Act provides for a Floating-Light and Beacon.
The bill for the Bell Rock Light-house was drawn up, under a strong impression of the uncertainty which must attend the whole of the works at the rock, and doubts were accordingly entertained as to the estimated expence being adequate to the accomplishment of the undertaking. A clause had, therefore, been introduced, authorising the collection of the light-house duties of one penny halfpenny per register ton from British vessels, and threepence per ton from foreigners, “immediately upon mooring or anchoring a ship or vessel, and exhibiting a floating or other light, at or near the Bell Rock,” and “half the amount of the said duties respectively,” on the erection of “a proper beacon or distinguishing mark or object on the said Bell Rock.” The measures first in order were, consequently, to fit out and moor a floating-light and to erect a beacon on the Bell Rock, that shipping might derive immediate advantage from them, while the light-house was in progress; and also that the funds of the Board might, as early as possible, have the benefit of the additional duties. We therefore proceed to give an account of the outfit and mooring of this vessel, and of the erection of the beacon-house, without attending strictly to the chronological order of the works.
The writer had frequent communications with the late Captain Huddart, of the Trinity-House of London, and other nautical men, both as to the form of a vessel, and the moorings proper for a situation like the Bell Rock: here the depth of water could not be less than from seventeen to nineteen fathoms at the lowest tide, whereas, on the English coast, the depth where floating lights are, in general, moored, does not exceed seven or eight fathoms, and their moorings, consequently, much more easily managed. The writer had also visited the floating light of the Nore, at the entrance of the river Thames; and he was induced, upon the whole, to conclude, that a vessel built after the manner and construction of the Dutch fishing-doggers, would be the most suitable for riding at anchor in the open sea, and that her moorings should consist partly of an iron chain, and partly of a hempen cable.
Pharos Floating Light-ship.
Fishing Dogger purchased, and named The Pharos.
In the year 1806, a great number of vessels were taken by our cruizers, upon the coasts of Holland, Denmark, and Norway, many of which were carried into Leith to be sold. One of these, a Prussian, which happened to be captured while fishing on the Dogger Bank, was purchased for the Bell Rock service. This vessel was of a flat construction, rounded off both at the stem and stern, agreeably to the ordinary make of these doggers. She was called the Tonge Gerrit, but was afterwards named the Pharos, in allusion to the celebrated Pharos of Alexandria. She measured 67 feet in length, and 16 feet in breadth, upon deck, 8 feet depth of hold, and was 82 tons register. It was, however, only the form of her hull that fitted her for our purpose; her rigging and whole equipment having to undergo a complete alteration, for the light-house service.
Fitted out under the direction of the Trinity-House, Leith.
The establishing of a floating-light being quite new upon the coast of Scotland, and that every thing connected with this vessel might be done upon the best principles, the writer procured the assistance of Mr Joseph Webb, an experienced pilot of Yarmouth, who had attended the fitting up of one of the floating lights stationed off that coast, and who had been recommended by the Trinity Board of London as a person of skill, for instructing the master of the vessel in all the details of the service. Several of the Captains of the Trinity-House of Leith also obligingly formed themselves into a committee, and from time to time assisted in giving directions as to the necessary repairs and outfit of the vessel.
Agreeably to this arrangement, the Prussian dogger was put into one of the graving docks of Leith, in the month of March 1807, and underwent a complete examination, when it was found that she required a few new timbers in her bottom; and that to strengthen her upper works, several new beams and additional knees were necessary. Her bottom had to be new trenailed and caulked, and then sheathed with fir plank. Her ceiling, or interior lining, was also caulked, and made water-tight, in case of accident to the outer plank, in the event of her breaking adrift, and getting upon the Bell Rock. Her deck-plank and upper works were also entirely renewed; and from stem to stern, under deck, her accommodations were laid out anew. She was furnished with three masts, of a length calculated to enable her to ride with as little incumbrance as possible in a storm; the main-mast being only thirty-five feet above the deck, while the fore and mizen masts were each twenty-five feet. The rigging was also made of light cordage, and she was provided with storm-sails, to be used in the event of her breaking adrift in bad weather. By the time, therefore, that this vessel came from the hands of the carpenters, very little of the old work remained, as nothing had been omitted, which could, in any manner, add to her strength and durability. She was fitted up with births for about thirty artificers, besides her ordinary crew and officers, amounting to thirteen in number, independently of her hold for oil and stores of various descriptions. In the distribution of these, the fore-peak of the ship was allotted for the sailors; the waist for the artificers; and galley appropriated to the cooking of the victuals. Next to this, a large cabin was set off for the master, mate, and principal light-keeper, and for the foremen of the works; while the after or stern part of the ship formed a cabin for the use of the engineer.
Peculiar construction of Lanterns.