Thursday, 24th.
At 2 o’clock this morning we were in St Andrew’s Bay, standing off and on shore, with strong gales of wind at SW.; at 7 we were off the entrance of the Tay; at 8 stood towards the rock, and at 10 passed to leeward of it, but could not attempt a landing. The beacon, however, appeared to remain in good order, and by 6 P. M. the vessel had again beaten up to St Andrew’s Bay, and got into somewhat smoother water for the night.
Friday, 25th.
The wind still continues at SW., blowing very hard; at 7 o’clock bore away for the Bell Rock, but finding a heavy sea running on it, were unable to land. The writer, however, had the satisfaction to observe, with his telescope, that every thing about the beacon appeared entire, and although the sea had a most frightful appearance, yet it was the opinion of every one, that, since the erection of the beacon, the Bell Rock was divested of many of its terrors, and, had it been possible to have got the boats hoisted out and manned, it might have even been found practicable to land: the vessel was, therefore, kept in the track of the rock, till it could be determined if a landing might be effected with the afternoon’s tide. The Yacht, in the mean time, stood towards the Redhead on the opposite shore, and at 5 P. M. returned; but both the wind and sea had rather increased. At 6 it blew so hard, that it was found necessary to strike the topmast and take in a third reef of the mainsail, and under this low canvas we soon reached St Andrew’s Bay, and got again under the lee of the land for the night. The artificers being sea-hardy, were quite reconciled to their quarters on board of the Light-house Yacht; but it is believed that hardly any consideration would have induced them again to take up their abode in the floating-light.
Saturday, 26th.
Land on the rock after an absence of four days.
In the course of the last night, the wind had shifted from SW. to W. NW., with moderate weather. At day-light, the Yacht steered towards the Bell Rock, and at 8 A. M., made fast to her moorings; at 10, all hands, to the amount of thirty, landed, when the writer had the happiness to find that the beacon had withstood the violence of the gale and the heavy breach of sea, every thing being found in the same state in which it had been left on the 21st. The artificers were now enabled to work upon the rock throughout the whole day, both at low and high water, but it required the strictest attention to the state of the weather, in case of their being overtaken with a gale, which might prevent the possibility of getting them off the rock. To-day, one half of the artificers remained on the beacon till half-past 6 P. M., having been eight hours and a half at work upon it.
Smith’s forge removed from the rock to the Beacon.
Two somewhat memorable circumstances in the annals of the Bell Rock attended the operations of this day; one was the removal of Mr James Dove, the foreman smith, with his apparatus, from the rock to the upper part of the beacon, where the forge was now erected on a temporary platform, laid on the cross beams or upper framing. The other was, the artificers having dined for the first time upon the rock, their dinner being cooked on board of the Yacht, and sent to them by one of the boats. But what afforded the greatest happiness and relief, was the removal of the large bellows, which had all along been a source of much trouble and perplexity, by their hampering and incommoding the boat which carried the smiths and their apparatus. The men belonging to that boat were so delighted with this occurrence, that while the bellows were in the act of being hoisted up to their new station, they gave three such hearty cheers, from below, as astonished and surprised those who were working the tackle on the beacon, to such a degree, that, for a moment, they let the rope slip through their hands, and had they not speedily caught hold again, this useful implement might have been dashed to pieces,—which would have been a misfortune of no small import, considering the state of the works at the present crisis.
Sunday 27th.