Bobert Stevenson, Esq. 20^ 



" The gale continues with unabated violence to-day, and the 

 sprays rise to a still greater height, having been carried over the 

 masonry of the building, or about 90 feet above the level of the sea. 

 At four o'clock this morning it was breaking into the cook's berth, 

 when he rung the alarm-bell, and all hands turned out to attend to 

 their personal safety. The floor of the smith's or mortar gallery 

 was now completely burst up by the force of the sea, when the 

 whole of the deals and the remaining articles upon the floor were 

 swept away, such as the cast-iron mortar- tubs, the iron hearth of 

 the forge, the smith's bellows, and even his anvil, were thrown 

 down upon the rock. The boarding of the cook-house, or storey 

 above the smith's gallery, was also partly carried away, and the 

 brick and plaster work of the fire-place shaken and loosened. At 

 low water it was found that the chain of the moveable beam-crane 

 at the western wharf had been broken, which set the beam at 

 liberty, and greatly endangered the quay-ropes by its motion. It 

 was observed, during this gale, that the beacon-house had a good 

 deal of tremor, but none of that ' twisting motion ' occasionally felt 

 and complained of before the additional wooden struts were set up 

 for the security of the principal beams ; but this effect had more 

 especially disappeared ever since the attachment of the great hori- 

 zontal iron bars in connection with these supports, instead of the 

 chain- braces shewn in Plate VIII. Before the tide rose to its full 

 height to-day, some of the artificers passed along the bridge into the 

 lighthouse, to observe the effects of the sea upon it, and they re- 

 ported that they had felt a slight tremulous motion in the building, 

 when great seas struck it in a certain direction about high water 

 mark. On this occasion, the sprays were again observed to wet the 

 balcony, and even to come over the parapet wall into the interior of 

 the light-room. In this state of the weather, Captain Wilson and 

 the crew of the * Floating Light ' were much alarmed for the safety 

 of the artificers upon the rock, especially when they observed, with a 

 telescope, that the floor of the smith"'s gallery had been carried 

 away, and that the triangular cast-iron sheer- crane was broken 

 down. It was quite impossible, however, to do anything for their 

 relief until the gale should take off." 



The great merit due to my father, as the architect of the 

 Bell Rock Lighthouse, lies in his bold conception of, and 

 confident unshaken belief in, the possibility of executing a 

 tower of masonry on the Bell Rock, a situation undoubtedly, 

 from the level of the rock, which is covered by every tide, of 

 much greater difficulty than the Eddystone. But, while we 

 chiefly admire his boldness and perseverance, his mechanical 

 skill in carrying on the work is also deserving of high praise. 

 Not only did he conceive the plan of the jib and balance- 



