Life of Robert Stevenson, Civil Engineer

by David Stevenson

Fig. 3.—The Beacon or Barrack.

So soon as a barrack of timber-work could be erected on the rock as a substitute for the floating light, it was inhabited by Mr. Stevenson and twenty-eight men. This barrack was a singular habitation, perched on a strong framework of timber, carefully designed with a view to strength, and no less carefully put together in its place, and fixed to the rock with every appliance necessary to secure stability. The tide rose sixteen feet on it in calm weather, and in heavy seas it was exposed to the assault of every wave. Of the perils and discomforts of such a habitation the following passages give a lively picture:—

“This scene” (the sublime appearance of the waves) “he greatly enjoyed while sitting at his window. Each wave approached the Beacon like a vast scroll unfolding, and in passing discharged a quantity of air which he not only distinctly felt, but was even sufficient to lift the leaves of a book which lay before him....

“The gale continues with unabated violence to-day, and the sprays rise to a still greater height, having been carried over the masonry of the building, or about 90 feet above the level of the sea. At four o’clock this morning it was breaking into the cook’s berth (on the Beacon), when he rang the alarm-bell, and all hands turned out to attend to their personal safety. The floor of the smith’s or mortar gallery was now completely burst up by the force of the sea, when the whole of the deals and the remaining articles upon the floor were swept away, such as the cast-iron mortar-tubs, the iron hearth of the forge, the smith’s bellows, and even his anvil, were thrown down upon the rock. The boarding of the cook-house, or story above the smith’s gallery, was also partly carried away, and the brick and plaster work of the fireplace shaken and loosened. It was observed during this gale that the Beacon-house had a good deal of tremor, but none of that ‘twisting motion’ occasionally felt and complained of before the additional wooden struts were set up for the security of the principal beams; but this effect had more especially disappeared ever since the attachment of the great horizontal iron bars in connection with these supports. Before the tide rose to its full height to-day, some of the artificers passed along the bridge into the lighthouse, to observe the effects of the sea upon it, and they reported that they had felt a slight tremulous motion in the building when great seas struck it in a certain direction about high-water mark. On this occasion the sprays were again observed to wet the balcony, and even to come over the parapet wall into the interior of the light-room. In this state of the weather, Captain Wilson and the crew of the ‘Floating Light’ were much alarmed for the safety of the artificers upon the rock, especially when they observed with a telescope that the floor of the smith’s gallery had been carried away, and that the triangular cast-iron sheer-crane was broken down. It was quite impossible, however, to do anything for their relief until the gale should take off....

“The writer’s cabin measured not more than 4 feet 3 inches in breadth on the floor; and though, from the oblique direction of the beams of the Beacon, it widened towards the top, yet it did not admit of the full extension of his arms when he stood on the floor; while its length was little more than sufficient for suspending a cot-bed during the night, calculated for being triced up to the roof during the day, which left free room for the admission of occasional visitants. His folding-table was attached with hinges immediately under the small window of the apartment; and his books, barometer, thermometer, portmanteau, and two or three camp-stools, formed the bulk of his moveables. His diet being plain, the paraphernalia of the table were proportionally simple; though everything had the appearance of comfort, and even of neatness, the walls being covered with green cloth, formed into panels with red tape, and his bed festooned with curtains of yellow cotton stuff. If, on speculating on the abstract wants of man, in such a state of exclusion, one were reduced to a single book, the sacred volume, whether considered for the striking diversity of its story, the morality of its doctrine, or the important truths of its Gospel, would have proved by far the greatest treasure.”

The Barrack was not removed immediately on the completion of the tower, and on Mr. Stevenson’s first visit to the rock after the light had been established, it was with feelings of emotion that he viewed his old quarters. His Journal says—“I went up the trap and entered my own cabin with mingled thoughts of reflection upon the many anxious hours I had spent within the narrow precincts of its little walls, and here offered up thanks to God for the happy termination of this work.”

Mr. Stevenson’s merit as Engineer of the Bell Rock Lighthouse does not rest in his bold conception of, and confident unshaken belief in, the possibility of executing a tower of masonry on that submerged reef, or even in his personal courage and discretion in carrying out so difficult a work, in the face of so many dangers, when he had neither “steamboat” nor “steam-crane” to call to his aid. But his mechanical skill in all the arrangements of the work was pre-eminent in bringing his labours to a successful issue. Not only did he conceive the plan of the moveable jib and balance cranes, described in a subsequent chapter—which he applied with much advantage in the erection of the tower, and the former of which is now in universal use,—but his inventive skill, ever alive to the possibility of improving on the conceptions of his great master, Smeaton, led him to introduce all those advantageous changes in the arrangements of the masonry of the tower, which have been already described, as distinguishing it from the Eddystone.

The Commissioners entertained a high sense of Stevenson’s services at the Bell Rock Lighthouse; and, as many of them took a deep interest in the execution of that remarkable work, and paid occasional visits to it during its progress, they were well able to appreciate the ability and zeal with which he devoted himself to this arduous task, and they resolved, at a meeting held in the lighthouse itself—“That a bust of Mr. Robert Stevenson be obtained, and placed in the library of the Bell Rock Lighthouse, in testimony of the sense entertained by the Commissioners of his distinguished talent and indefatigable zeal in the erection of that lighthouse.” A beautiful bust in marble, by Samuel Joseph, from which the frontispiece has been engraved, was accordingly placed in what is called the library, being the upper apartment of the tower.

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Mr. Stevenson’s interest in the Eddystone did not cease on the completion of his own work. We know that he paid at least two visits to the Eddystone after the completion of the Bell Rock. One of those visits was made in September 1813, when, by the courtesy of the Trinity House, he was accommodated with the use of the ‘Eddystone’ tender, and, though the weather was not very favourable, succeeded in landing on the rock and making a hasty inspection of the far-famed lighthouse.

Mr. Stevenson’s last visit was made in 1818, on a voyage in the Northern Lighthouse tender, on which occasion he was favoured with a smooth sea and a low tide, and enabled to make a thorough inspection of the rock. It is important and interesting to record that this examination strongly impressed him with the ultimate insecurity of the structure, as appears from the following almost prophetic extract from his Journal:—

“The house seems to be in a very good state of repair, and does not appear to have sustained any injury by the lapse of time. The joints are full of cement, and the stone exhibits little appearance of decay, being granite or syenite. The rock itself upon a narrow inspection seems to be gneiss. The rock is shaken all through, and dips at a very considerable angle, perhaps one in three, towards the south-west; and being undermined on the north-east side for several feet, it must be confessed that it has rather an alarming appearance. I am not, however, of opinion that it has altered its state perhaps since the date of the erection of the tower. Since my last visit in 1813 I am not sensible of any change upon it. On the north-east side, however, at what is called the ‘Gut’ landing-place, where the men sheltered themselves from the fire of Rudyerd’s Lighthouse, but especially at low-water mark of spring-tides, there is a hollowing of the rock which penetrates at least to the circumference of the base of the lighthouse. I therefore conclude that when the sea runs high there is danger of this house being upset, after a lapse of time, when the sea and shingle have wrought away the rock to a greater extent. Nothing preserves this highly important building but the hardness of the rock and the dip of the strata, but for how long a period this may remain no one can pretend to say.”