The manner in which this noble structure braves the assault of waters has been graphically described by Mr. Stevenson. It is during the winter’s storms, he says, and when viewed from the Forfarshire coast, that it appears in one of its most interesting aspects, standing proudly among the waves, while the sea around it is in the wildest state of agitation. The light-keepers do not seem to be in motion, but the scene is by no means still, as the clang and clamour, the motion and fury of the waves, are incessant. The seas rise in the most surprising fashion to the height of about seventy feet above the rock, and after expending their force in a perpendicular direction, fall in foaming masses round the base of the lighthouse, while considerable portions of the spray seem to adhere, as it were, to the building, and gather down its sides in the condition of froth as white as snow. Some of the great waves burst and are expended upon the rock before they reach the lighthouse; while others strike the base, and embracing the walls, meet on the western side, where the violent collision churns the eddying waters into the wildest foam.
The management of the Bell Rock lighthouse is provided for as follows:—The nearest town is Arbroath, about eleven miles distant, where a cutter called the Pharos is stationed as the lighthouse tender. Once a fortnight, or in the course of each set of spring-tides, she visits the rock, to relieve the light-keepers and replenish their store of provisions and fuel. The keepers are four in number, three of whom are always on duty, while one is ashore. If the weather be favourable, each light-keeper is six weeks on the rock, and a fortnight on land with his family. The pay is from £50 to £60 per annum, with a stated allowance of bread, beef, butter, oatmeal, vegetables, and small beer, and fourpence a day extra for tea. A suit of uniform is also provided once in three years.
The watches in the light-room are relieved with as much punctuality as on board a man-of-war, no keeper being allowed to leave until his successor presents himself, under the penalty of immediate dismissal. To ensure the strictest regularity in this respect, a timepiece is placed in each light-room, and bells are hung in the bed-rooms of the dwelling-houses, which, being connected by mechanical appliances with the lighthouse, can be rung as necessity requires.
At Arbroath, as at other stations, the light-keepers’ dwellings are very neatly built and comfortably arranged, each having its little garden attached. There are also suitable storehouses provided, a room for the master and crew of the lighthouse tender, and a signal-tower fifty feet high, on whose summit a small observatory is erected, with an excellent achromatic telescope, a flag-staff, and a copper signal-ball measuring eighteen feet in diameter. A similar ball crowns the lighthouse dome, and by these means daily signals are exchanged, to signify that all is well. Should the ball at the top be allowed to remain down, as is the case when particular supplies are needed, or either of the light-keepers have been seized with illness, assistance is immediately dispatched in the tender.
The total cost of the lighthouse, of the buildings at Arbroath, of the tender, and the first year’s stores, was £61,350.
A curious accident is recorded in connection with the lighthouse as having occurred on the 9th of February 1832, about ten o’clock P.M.
A large herring-gull flew against one of the south-eastern mullions of the light-room with so much violence that two of the polished plates of glass, measuring each about two feet square and a quarter of an inch thick, were dashed to atoms, and scattered over the floor, to the great alarm of the keeper on watch, and of his two associates, who rushed instantly into the light-room. It happened, fortunately, that although one of the red-shaded sides of the reflector-frame was passing in its revolution at the moment, the fragments were so minute that no injury was done to the valuable red glass. The gull was found to measure five feet from tip to tip of its expanded wings. A large herring was found in its gullet, and in its throat a piece of plate glass about an inch in length.[40]
Before quitting the subject of the Bell Rock Lighthouse, it is desirable we should refer to another of Mr. Stevenson’s achievements, the Beacon on the Carr rock. The Carr is the seaward extremity of a sunken reef, visible only at low water, which extends about two miles from the shore of Fifeness, on the northern side of the mouth of the Forth estuary. Its position is unusually dangerous, as it lies in the track of shipping ascending and descending Scotland’s great eastern river. In the course of nine years it proved fatal to no fewer than sixteen vessels. As all attempts had failed to mark its position by a floating buoy, the authorities resolved to erect a beacon of masonry upon it, and in 1813 the difficult work was commenced under Mr. Stevenson’s direction. The dimensions of the Carr are only 23 feet in breadth by 15 feet in length, and it was impossible, therefore, to obtain a base for a building of greater diameter than 18 feet.
Five seasons were spent in the erection of the beacon, so many were the obstacles which the workmen had to conquer, especially from the prevalence of rolling seas and stormy winds. In the fifth year, when the whole of the masonry had been completed, a November hurricane swept away the upper part of the structure. A modification of the original design was then adopted; and on the courses of masonry left intact by wind and waves six columns of cast iron were planted, terminating in a cast iron ball of three feet in diameter, which rose about twenty-five feet above the average sea-level. The whole was completed in the sixth season (September 1821).[41]