THE BELL ROCK. 173 



driven too near its nearly hidden dangers, and early in the fourteenth century the Abbot of 

 Arbroath, or Arberbrothok, caused a bell to be placed upon the principal rock, so that 



' ' When the Rock was hid by the surge's swell, 

 The mariners heard the warning bell ; 

 And then they knew the perilous Rock, 

 And blessed the Abbot of Arberbrothok." 



Southey has, in his ballad of "The Inchcape Rock/' immortalised the tradition* that a 

 notorious pirate cut the bell from the rock 



" Down sank the bell with a gurgling sound, 

 The bubbles arose and burst around; 

 Quoth Sir Ralph, ' The next who comes to the Rock, 

 Won't bless the Abbot of Arberbrothok." 



And so the rover sailed away, and grew rich with plundered store, till at length he thought 

 of Scotland once again, and turned his vessel's head for home. He approached her coasts 

 in haze and fog, and knew he could not be far from the rocky shore. 



' ' They hear no sound, the swell is strong ; 



Though the wind hath fallen they drift along, 

 Till the vessel strikes with a shivering shock, 

 ' Oh, Christ ! it is the Inchcape Rock ! ' 



" Sir Ralph the Rover tore his hair ; 

 He curst himself in his despair; 

 The waves rush in on every side, 

 The ship is sinking beneath the tide." 



Nothing was done to replace the bell or set a beacon on the reef until the beginning of the 

 present century, when, after many plans had been discussed, John Rennie was ordered by the 

 Board of Commissioners to examine the site and report on the subject generally. He 

 recommended a substantial stone lighthouse, similar to that on the Eddy stone. Although the 

 Inchcape Rock was not so long uncovered by the tide as the former, after a few courses had 

 been laid, there would be no greater delay in completing the building. The Commissioners 

 obtained from Parliament the requisite powers in 1806; Rennie was appointed engineer, 

 with Robert Stevenson as assistant engineer. 



The whole of the year 1807 was occupied in constructing the necessary vessels for 

 conveying the stones, and in erecting suitable machinery and building shops at Arbroath, 

 which was fixed upon as the most convenient point on the coast for carrying on the 

 land operations. Some progress was made on the rock itself, where a smith's forge was 

 erected and a temporary beacon raised, while a floating light, fitted up on an old fishing- 

 boat, was anchored near the reef until the lighthouse could be completed. During the short 



* The following is the tradition from an ancient source : " By the east of the Isle of May, twelve miles 

 from all land in the German Sea, lyes a great hidden rock, called Inchcape, very dangerous to the navigators, 

 because it is overflowed every tide. It is reported that, in old times, there was upon the said rock a bell, 

 fixed upon a tree or timber, which rang continually, being moved by the sea, giving notice to the saylors of 

 the danger. This bell or clockc was put there by the Abbot of Arberbrothok, and being taken down by a 

 sea-pirate, a year thereafter he perished upon the same rock, with ship and goodes, by the righteous judgment 

 of God." (Stoddart's " Remarks on Scotland."} 



