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

Report of the Committee.

Report brought up by Sir John Sinclair.

“The Committee, to whom was referred the Petition of the Commissioners of the Northern Light-houses, and to report the matter to the House, as it shall appear to them,

“Proceeded to examine Mr Robert Stevenson, Civil Engineer, who, in his capacity of engineer for the Northern Light-houses, has erected six light-houses in the northern parts of the kingdom; and has made the erection of a light-house on the Cape or Bell Rock, more particularly his study,—especially, since the loss of about 70 sail of vessels, in a storm which happened upon the coast in the month of December 1799, by which numerous ships were driven from their course along the shore, and from their moorings in Yarmouth Roads, and other places of anchorage, southward of the Firth of Forth, and wrecked upon the eastern coast of Scotland, as referred to in the report made to this House, in the month of July 1803; the particulars of which he also confirms: That the Bell Rock is most dangerously situate, lying in a track which is annually navigated by no less than about 700,000 tons of shipping, besides his Majesty’s ships of war, and revenue cutters: That its place is not easily ascertained, even by persons well acquainted with the coast, being covered by the sea about half flood, and the land-marks, by which its position is ascertained, being from 12 to 20 miles distant from the site of danger.

“That from the inquiries he made at the time the York Man-of-war was lost, and pieces of her wreck having drifted ashore upon the opposite and neighbouring coast; and from an attentive consideration of the circumstances which attend the wreck of ships of such dimensions, he thinks it probable that the York must have struck upon the Bell Rock, drifted off, and afterwards sunk in deep water: That he is well acquainted with the situation of the Bell Rock, the yacht belonging to the light-house service, having, on one occasion, been anchored near it for five days, when he had an opportunity of landing upon it every tide: That he has visited most of the light-houses on the coast of England, Wales and Ireland, particularly those of the Eddystone, the Smalls, and the Kilwarlin or South Rock, which are built in situations somewhat similar to the Bell Rock: That at high-water, there is a greater depth on the Bell Rock than on any of these, by several feet: and he is therefore fully of opinion, that a building of stone, upon the principles of the Eddystone light-house, is alone suitable to the peculiar circumstances which attend this rock, and has reported his opinion accordingly to the Commissioners of the Northern Light-houses as far back as the year 1800; and having given the subject all the attention in his power, he has estimated the expence of erecting a building of stone upon it at the sum of L. 42,685, 8s.

“Your Committee likewise examined Mr John Rennie, civil-engineer, who, since the report made to this House in 1803, has visited the Bell Rock, who confirms the particulars in said report, and entertains no doubt of the practicability of erecting a light-house on that rock, is decidedly of opinion that a stone light-house will be the most durable and effectual, and indeed the only kind of building that is suited to this situation: That he has computed the expence of such a building, and, after making every allowance for contingencies, from his own experience of works in the sea, it appears to him that the estimate or expence will amount to L. 41,843, 15s.

“It appears further to your Committee, from the accounts presented to this House by the Commissioners of the Northern Light-houses, in the years 1803, 1804, and 1805, that, on an average of these years, the surplus duties arising from the light-houses already erected by that Board, is L. 512:18:8. But your Committee find, that the average of general expenditure for these years has been higher than usual, owing to the erection of additional light-houses, viz. one on the Island of Inchkeith, in the Firth of Forth, and a revolving light upon the Start-Point of Sanday, one of the Orkney Islands, on which there was expended, during these years, about L. 4800, causing an annual extra charge of L. 1600 upon the duties collected in that period.

“That, agreeably to the act of the 26th of the King, the said Commissioners of the Northern Light-houses have invested in the public Funds L. 28,000, affording dividends to the annual amount of L. 840.

“That the duties that would be collected for the Bell Rock light, as appears by the returns from the customs presented to this House, and the resolution they have come to, would amount to about L. 2617: 3: 9 annually.

“That if the sum of L. 25,000 was to be advanced, by way of loan, from the consolidated fund, this, with the L. 28,000 now invested in the 3 per cent. Consolidated Annuities, would enable the Commissioners to erect the proposed light-house, and that there would remain a sufficient fund for the payment of interest of the loan from the surplus duties, as well as for the repayment of the principal, in a reasonable time.”