Land upon the Rock after five days absence.
The wind was N.NE. this morning, in light airs, and the weather was clear. This being Sunday, the usual ceremony was observed at 12 noon, when the writer read prayers on the quarter-deck. The ensuing set of spring-tides were now coming to hand, and, at 3 P. M., all the artificers embarked for the rock, excepting the four men who had declined it last Sunday. Their places, however, were willingly taken by the three men who came last from the shore, who were happy to get relief from the disagreeable motion of the floating-light upon any terms. The boats reached the rock at half-past 3; but being rather early in the tide, the men rested on their oars till 4 o’clock, and then landed on the different spots as they dried, where they remained till the tide ebbed sufficiently to allow them to commence work. This was the first time the artificers had landed on the rock for five days, owing to the state of the weather and tides, and it was not a little flattering, on this occasion, to see with what eagerness the workmen leaped upon it. Those who were not troubled with sea-sickness, felt a degree of languor on board from which their working hours formed rather a relaxation, while the sickly (by far the greater number) felt immediate relief upon setting their foot upon terra firma, even in its most circumscribed boundary. While the water was going off the rock, the workmen were all busily employed in picking dulse, the Fucus palmatus of botanists, and indeed any other of the marine plants which happened to lie within their reach. Those who were the greatest sufferers from sea-sickness always ate the most greedily upon these occasions. Such incidental circumstances tended greatly to keep up the desire for landing at the rock, and seemed, in some measure, to compensate for the labour of rowing to and from it.
Method of fixing the stanchions in the rock.
The operation of boring the bat-holes being in great forwardness, the men were now chiefly employed in chiselling or cutting out the piece of rock which remained between each pair of jumper-holes, forming a ridge of about two inches in thickness. When this was cleared away, the bat-hole was of the proper form, and, as before noticed, it measured about seven inches in length, two inches in breadth, and eighteen inches in depth, an excavation which, from its dimensions, must readily appear to have been attended with much difficulty. The holes, though bored with the same size of chisels, as nearly as might be, were not precisely of the same size; but this was not essential, as the stanchion, when wedged in its place, completely filled the aperture. This operation of chiselling out the middle piece, and widening the hole in the form of a dove-tail, was a much more intricate and tedious operation than boring perpendicularly with the jumper. At that process three men worked with great celerity, whereas two only could be employed in cutting out the divisions and widening the holes.
The site of the building having already been carefully traced out with the pick-axe, the artificers, this day, commenced the excavation of the rock, for the foundation or first course of the light-house. Four men only were employed at this work, while twelve continued at the site of the Beacon-house, at which every possible opportunity was embraced, till this essential part of the operations should be completed. After having been two hours upon the rock this tide, the water began to rise upon the smith’s forge and the site of the Beacon-house, and at ¼ past 6 o’clock P. M. the artificers left the rock.
Monday, 31st.
Longest day’s work hitherto had on the Bell Rock.
The winds varied to-day from N.NE. to S. Though it blew pretty fresh, it was not accompanied with any swell in the sea, and the weather upon the whole was very pleasant. At half-past 3 in the morning, the writer was called by the landing-master, to consult about the state of the weather, and the practicability of landing upon the rock. After some hesitation, the result was to proceed: the signal bell for getting the boats ready was rung at 4 A. M., when all hands took to their respective boats, and at half-past 4 the work commenced at the rock: it continued till half-past 7, allowing an excellent tide’s work of three hours, when the artificers again returned to the floating-light, and remained till the evening tide. At 4 P. M. they landed, but did not begin to work till a quarter from 5 o’clock, when the water had sufficiently left the rock. At a quarter past 7 it was overflowed, when the boats returned to the ship, and the writer was not a little elated, as the morning and evening tide had afforded no less than five and a half hours work, being the greatest day’s work hitherto obtained on the Bell Rock.
September, Tuesday, 1st.
The weather was extremely pleasant throughout these twenty-four hours, though the wind veered and shifted about from N.W. to W.SW. At 4 o’clock this morning the bell made rather an unwelcome call, but all hands readily turned out. As before mentioned, when the work commenced at these early hours, a dram and a biscuit were served out to the artificers; and the writer, upon these occasions, found a cup of coffee very salutary. Having landed at a quarter from 5, the work was continued for three and a half hours, four men, as before noticed, being employed on the site of the Light-house, and twelve at the Beacon-house. The water overflowed the rock at a quarter past 7, when the boats returned to the floating-light.