An Account of the Bell Rock Light-House / Including the Details of the Erection and Peculiar Structure of That Edifice; to Which Is Prefixed a Historical View of the Institution and Progress of the Northern Light-Houses

by Robert Stevenson

It was also found impracticable to land upon the Rock itself sooner in this month than the 20th, when, after several attempts, Mr Francis Watt and Captain Wilson, two of the engineer’s assistants, landed with four seamen, and four artificers with their tools, at 12 noon, and remained till a quarter past 1 P. M. By this time several of the supports of the iron-railways on the Rock had got loose, and two of the castings forming the waggon-track and footpath had broken adrift. One of these was found at a considerable distance from its place, but the other had entirely disappeared, and must have been washed off the Rock, although it weighed upwards of 100 lb. In these gales, no fewer than ten of the bracing-chains of the Beacon were shaken entirely loose, seven of which had unscrewed the tightening-bolts, and the remaining three lifted the pieces of rock into which the chain-bats had been fixed. The tightening-bolts were again screwed up, and pieces of small wire twisted round the points of the screws, to prevent the nuts from unlocking. The three bolts, with their chains, which had lifted the parts of the rock, were disengaged from the Beacon altogether, to prevent injury to the wooden beams, by their motion with the force of the sea; and things were otherwise left in as serviceable a state as the circumstances of a limited stay upon the Rock at this season of the year would admit. It was, upon the whole, highly satisfactory to learn, that the Beacon, this important auxiliary to the operations, had received no material injury, after such a continued tract of stormy weather; the great iron stanchions sunk into the Rock, which kept the main beams in their places, and all the joints and fixtures of the higher parts of the framed work, being quite entire, and without the smallest appearance of having shifted.

Proofs of strong currents in the Sea.

On this trip to the Rock, the Light-house Yacht picked up a floating-buoy belonging to the navigation of the river Weser. It was marked “Bremen 1808, W. R. No. 2.,” and measured six feet in length, and three feet in diameter over the head, being of the form known to mariners as a Cann buoy. It appeared to have drifted, in the course of this winter, from the shores of Germany, which, in a direct line, is a distance of at least 340 miles. This circumstance, as the buoy presented, while afloat, but a small surface for the wind to act upon, being heavily bound with iron, and having about two fathoms of mooring chain appended to it, affords an extraordinary proof of the effects of the tides and currents in the ocean. We may likewise here notice, among other instances corroborative of this curious anomaly of the tides, the drifting, within the same period, of part of the apparatus belonging to the works of the Bell Rock; particularly the two buoys, formerly mentioned, that parted from their moorings, and came ashore, the one, along with a raft of timber, at Fifeness, and the other at the Island of May, after having been upwards of two months at sea. But, perhaps, the most remarkable occurrence of this kind, was that of the Praam-boat, also formerly mentioned, which broke loose from the Floating-light, and was found at the Redhead about 13 miles distant, having been at sea for the space of three months and eight days.

Three large drift-stones found upon the Rock.

The artificers again landed at the Rock on the morning of the 31st at 7 o’clock, being rather before day-break, and left it again at 10, after having been on it about three hours. Several of the bracing-chains were found loosened, notwithstanding the precautions hitherto used for preventing the bolts from unlocking. But the writer had resolved, when the weather would admit, to remove these chains altogether, and introduce strong bars of malleable iron, about eight feet above the Rock, as represented in [Plate VIII.], to connect the several beams in a horizontal direction. At this landing, three large masses of rock were found close to the Beacon, which had been drifted upon the Rock by the force of the sea. They were of various dimensions, the largest containing no less than about 20 cubic feet, equal perhaps to a ton and a quarter in weight. After a careful examination, in every direction, of the low-water surface of the rock, it was ascertained that these stones had formed no part of it, though of the same description of rock; and it was therefore concluded, they must have been thrown up from deep water. The refitting of the chains of the Beacon and the cast-iron Railways, so occupied the time of the artificers, that they could not get the stones so broken as to be removed, and thereby prevent their being perhaps thrown, by the force of the sea, against the Beacon and Railways, like so many battering rams.

February.

During the month of February, the weather continued to be extremely boisterous, and it was not without considerable difficulty that the Floating-light could be visited at the stated periods; while two unsuccessful attempts were made, on the 1st and 20th, to land at the Bell Rock.

Progress of the Works at Arbroath, and exertions made at the Quarries.

In the work-yard, the preparation of the several courses of the building was going progressively forward. The Ninth course was now finished, and part of the Tenth laid upon the platform. At Mylnefield Quarry, the operations were at a stand; for in winter, as formerly mentioned, no work is done here, owing to the liability of the stones to split in frosty weather, especially when newly taken from the quarry, the laminæ of the strata being then charged with moisture. But, as granite imbibes water very slowly, and is not liable to those changes, every exertion continued to be made at the quarries of Aberdeenshire, that, if possible, the outside casing of granite might be carried to the height of 30 feet, or to the top of the solid part of the building, instead of 16 feet, or to high-water mark, as had been latterly intended. The stone-agent at Aberdeen, accordingly, had a person traversing the numerous quarries in that neighbourhood, while one of the foremen from the work-yard at Arbroath, was similarly employed, during the winter months, at Peterhead; and whenever a stone was found answerable to the Light-house moulds, it was immediately purchased, and laid aside for the use of the Bell Rock.