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

Smeaton brings off the experimental cargo of stone.

The Smeaton had arrived from Arbroath in the course of the last night, and made fast to her moorings at the eastern buoy, which was nearest to the rock, as will be seen from [Plate V.] Agreeably to appointment, she had brought off six blocks of granite, for the purpose of making an experiment regarding the landing of the stones on the rock. She also had in tow the praam, or decked boat, brought from Leith astern of the Pharos, of which mention has already been made. This boat, in smooth water, could carry about six or seven tons upon deck.

Various suggestions about landing the stones.

The writer had looked forward to the trial of landing weighty materials upon the rock, as a matter which was to determine an important point in the operations of the Bell Rock light-house, and which could hardly be resolved by any other means than actual trial. This part of the operation had always been a matter of the greatest uncertainty with those conversant in such matters, and it became essential to determine the point at this period, by actual trial, before proceeding to the preparation of the craft and apparatus requisite for the works of next season, which it would not have been safe or prudent to rest upon doubtful hypothesis. In speculating upon this point, some had suggested that each particular stone should be floated to the rock, with a cork-buoy attached to it, while others would convert the float into an air-tank for this purpose; a third proposed to sail over the rock at high water, in a vessel of a flat construction, and drop the stones one after another, while under way, or at anchor on the rock. Others took up a still more extraordinary view of the case, and proposed to build so much of the Light-house ashore, in a kind of coffer-dam or vessel, as would raise the building to the level of the highest tide, and having previously prepared the rock for its reception, they would scuttle the vessel, and settle this ponderous mass, weighing perhaps 1000 tons, at once upon the rock. But it were endless to follow the various conceptions, even of men of experience, upon subjects of this kind. Though some of these propositions were ingeniously conceived, yet they could not be carried into effect in such a situation as the Bell Rock. Taking into view the uncertain state of the weather, the brittle nature of stone, when worked to a delicate edge and formed into angular points,—and, above all, considering the disadvantages that would attend the loss, even of a single stone, by the unavoidable delay it would occasion to the work, which might even in some instances hazard a great part of the building,—the writer judged it safest to keep the vessels that were to bring the stones from the workyard at moorings, laid down at a convenient distance from the rock, so as to enable them to clear it, in case of drifting. He also determined, as the safest method, that their cargoes should be unloaded at these moorings, laid on decked praam-boats, and towed to the rock by the landing-master’s crew, at low water, when the artificers were at work, and ready to lay and secure the stones in their places on the building. To put this to the test of actual experiment, the trial praam-boat had been built, and the six rough blocks of stone were brought to the rock.

Experiment of landing six blocks of Granite.

The middle part of this day was occupied by the writer on board of the Smeaton, at her moorings, where he carefully attended to the process of bringing the praam alongside, fixing her head and stern-ropes, and stationing the seamen at their respective posts, for the purpose of landing this small, but, in his view, important cargo. The mode by which the stones were taken out of the Smeaton’s hold, and lowered on the praam’s deck, will be understood from [Plate XI.] This was done by means of a gaff-boom, which traversed upon the Smeaton’s mast, with the necessary tackles for guying it. An essential part of this tackle was a travelling-crance, or ring of iron, by which the stone might be lifted either at the extremities or at the central parts of the boom, as best suited its position in the ship’s hold, or its intended place on the praam’s deck. The length of this gaff-boom was thirteen feet, being sufficient for lowering the stone upon the praam. Another part of this apparatus, for lifting the stone, was a winch, fixed before the Smeaton’s mast, consisting of a wheel two feet in diameter, worked by a pinion. The stone being raised from the vessel’s hold, was laid on her deck, in order to shift the crance tackle to the extremity of the gaff-boom. The chief charge of the stone was then taken by the landing-master, till it was laid on the praam’s deck, landed on the rock, and ultimately delivered over to the foreman builder. In the act of working this apparatus, one man was placed at each of the guy-tackles, who also assisted at the purchase-tackle for raising the stone; and one of the ablest and most active of the crew was appointed to hold on the end of the tackle-fall or purchase, which often required all his strength, and his utmost agility in letting go, for the purpose of lowering the stone at the instant when the word “Lower” was heard. Much depended upon the promptitude with which this part of the operation was performed, in a rolling sea, as our nautical readers will readily understand. For this purpose, the man who held the end of the tackle placed himself before the mast in a sitting, but more frequently in a lying posture, with his feet stretched under the winch, and abutting against the mast, as, by this means, he was enabled to exert his greatest strength. The signal being given by the men in the hold, that the Lewis-bat was fixed into the stone, and the tackle hooked, every man took his post. If the stone was very weighty, the two men who were to receive it on board of the praam, assisted in working the purchase, till the stone was got out of the hold, to be laid upon deck, when the word “Lower” was given, in an audible and stern tone of voice. After the traveller was shifted upon the gaff boom, the praam-men returned to their post, and the stone was again lifted to a sufficient height, to clear the vessel’s gunwale, when great attention became necessary in working the guy-tackles, till the stone was brought over the praam’s deck, and the watchword “Lower” given, if possible, with greater force than before. The tackles were then unhooked, and in this manner the operation proceeded until the stones were got on board of the praam-boat.

This description may seem particular; but the reason will appear obvious, when it is recollected, that the landing of the materials has been considered one of the most nice and difficult parts of seamanship, and on which the best informed seamen were unable to say how it might answer, without great risk to the crew, and damage to the stones, and even occasionally losing them between the ship and the praam-boat. Both vessels being afloat, and riding in the open sea, at the distance of about a quarter of a mile from the Bell Rock, their motion was instantly communicated to the landing-gaff, and so to the stone in the tackle. The six blocks of granite having been placed upon the praam’s deck, she was towed to a floating-buoy, where she was made fast, until the proper time of tide, for taking her into one of the creeks of the rock.

Stones first landed on the Rock.

At a quarter past 4 P. M., the boats, with the artificers, left the floating-light, and the work of the evening tide commenced at a quarter before 5. The sailors having previously decorated the ships and the praam-boat with flags, she was towed to the rock by two boats. The writer having resolved personally to attend the whole progress of this experiment went on board of the praam-boat, when she entered the eastern creek, where the foreman builder, at the head of the artificers, gave three hearty cheers. As the praam had not water to float her so far up the creek as the site of the building, her cargo was delivered upon Smith’s Ledge, on the north side of this creek, as marked on [Plate VI.] In the present unprepared state of the machinery and implements upon the rock, the stones, in the present case, were raised with pinches, and pushed ashore upon planks. The whole of this experiment succeeded to the writer’s utmost expectation, who was thus led to conclude, that the materials might be landed with much more expedition and certainty than he had previously supposed. All hands spontaneously collected to witness the landing of the first stone, which had no sooner touched the rock, than other three cheers were given, and, on this occasion, a glass of rum was served out by the steward. Having continued two hours upon the rock this evening, the artificers left it at 7, and returned to the floating-light, while the landing-master’s crew towed the praam-boat off to the Smeaton, that she might be taken to Arbroath, having completed all that was intended with her, this season.