The operations still continued to be favoured with pleasant weather; to-day there were light airs of wind from south-east, and the morning bell was rung at 6. Although the rock barely made its appearance at this period of the tides till 8 o’clock, yet, having now a full mile to row from the floating-light to the rock, instead of about a quarter of a mile from the moorings of the Smeaton, it was necessary to be earlier astir, and to form different arrangements; breakfast was accordingly served up at 7 o’clock this morning. From the excessive motion of the floating-light, the writer had looked forward rather with anxiety to the removal of the workmen to this ship. Some among them, who had been congratulating themselves upon having become sea-hardy while on board of the Smeaton, had a complete relapse on returning to the floating-light. This was also the case with the writer. From the spacious and convenient birthage of the floating-light, the exchange to the artificers was, in this respect, much for the better. The boats were also commodious, measuring sixteen feet in length on the keel, so that, in fine weather, their complement of sitters was sixteen persons for each, with which, however, they were rather crowded, but she could not stow two boats of larger dimensions. When there was what is called a breeze of wind, and a swell in the sea, the proper number for each boat could not, with propriety, be rated at more than twelve persons.
The act of getting into or out of a boat, when alongside of the floating-light, was at all times attended with more or less difficulty; her rolling motion was so great, that the gunwale, though about five feet above the surface of the water, she dipped nearly into it, upon the one side, while her keel could not be far from the surface on the other. This was her state, even in moderate weather, in certain directions of the wind, especially for the period of about an hour, when she was thwarting to the tide, or rode in what sailors call the trough of the sea. The act of getting on board was then attended with great difficulty, even to seamen, and was particularly so to landmen, requiring all the attention which the landing-master could bestow, in getting the artificers safely transferred from the boats to the ship, and vice versa.
Difficulty of getting on board and leaving the Pharos.
When the tide-bell rung, the boats were hoisted out, and two active seamen were employed to keep them from receiving damage alongside. The floating-light being very buoyant, was so quick in her motions, that when those who were about to step from her gunwale into a boat, placed themselves upon a cleat or step on the ship’s side, with the man or rail ropes in their hands, they had often to wait for some time, till a favourable opportunity occurred for stepping into the boat. While in this situation, with the vessel rolling from side to side, watching the proper time for letting go the man-ropes, it required the greatest dexterity and presence of mind to leap into the boat. One who was rather awkward, would often wait a considerable period in this position: at one time his side of the ship would be so depressed, that he would touch the boat to which he belonged, while the next sea would elevate him so much, that he would see his comrades in the boat on the opposite side of the ship, his friends in the one boat calling to him to “Jump,” while those in the boat on the other side, as he came again and again into their view, would jocosely say, “Are you there yet? You seem to enjoy a swing.” In this situation it was common to see a person, upon each side of the ship, for a length of time, waiting to quit his hold. A stranger to this sort of motion was both alarmed for the safety, and delighted with the agility of persons leaping into the boat, under those perilous circumstances. No sooner had one quitted his station on the gunwale, than another occupied his place, until the whole were safely shipped.
Difficulty of keeping boats alongside.
It also formed a critical operation with the sailors to keep the boats at a convenient distance from the vessel, to guard against being too far off; as, in that case, the man, in the act of stepping off the ship’s side, might have been in danger of falling into the sea. If, on the other hand, the boat was allowed to come in contact with the vessel, she would have been in danger of being staved or damaged. This state of things was fortunately not what we had to commence with, as the weather happened to be, as before noticed, serene, and the Smeaton’s sides were comparatively low in the water. The excessive rolling of the Pharos did not therefore come upon the artificers all at once, otherwise some unpleasant accidents must have happened, for in these rolling operations, if a stranger had, in a moment of alarm, let go his hold, at an improper time, he must have been pitched with violence into the sea.
The party being seated in their respective boats, they were pulled to the Bell Rock in about twenty minutes, from the moorings of the Pharos, when the water was smooth and the wind moderate. This morning the boats reached the rock at 8 o’clock; the work commenced exactly at a quarter past 8, and at half-past 11, the water again began to overflow the parts on which the artificers were at work. Every tide now gave the writer more pleasant prospects of the progress of the work than another, especially since the erection of the smith’s forge.
Artificers become expert rowers.
On leaving the rock to-day, a trial of seamanship was proposed amongst the rowers, for by this time the artificers had become tolerably expert in this exercise. By inadvertency, some of the oars provided had been made of fir instead of ash, and although a considerable stock had been laid in, the workmen, being at first awkward in the art, were constantly breaking their oars; indeed, it was no uncommon thing to see the broken blades of a pair of oars floating astern, in the course of a passage from the rock to the vessel. The men, upon the whole, had but little work to perform in the course of a day; for though they exerted themselves extremely hard while on the rock, yet, in the early state of the operations, this could not be continued for more than three or four hours at a time,
Rations of artificers.