LIFE ON THE SKERRYVORE. 177 



those sensations were so vivid as to cause almost every one to spring out of bed; and 

 some of the men flew from the barrack by a temporary gangway to the more stable but 

 less comfortable shelter afforded by the bare wall of the lighthouse tower, then unfinished, 

 where they spent the remainder of the night in the darkness and the cold." 



Yet life on the Skerryvore was by no means destitute of its peculiar pleasures. The 

 grandeur of the ocean's rage, the deep murmur of the waves, the hoarse cry of the sea- 

 birds, were varied by peaceful hours, when the sea was glassy and the deep blue vault of 

 heaven was studded with a thousand stars. " Among the many wonders of the e great 

 deep,'" says Stevenson, "which we witnessed at the Skerryvore, not the least is the agility 

 and power displayed by the unshapely seal. I have often seen half a dozen of these animals 

 round the rock, playing on the surface or riding on the crests of curling waves, come so 

 close as to permit us to see their eyes and head, and lead us to expect that they would be 

 thrown high and dry at the foot of the tower ; when suddenly they performed a somersault 

 within a few feet of the rock, and diving into the flaky and wreathing foam, disappeared, 

 and as suddenly re-appeared a hundred yards off, uttering a strange low cry. 



On one occasion the tender could not come off to the poor people on the rock for seven 

 weeks. The seamen passed a most dreary time. Their provisions and fuel were short; 

 their clothes were worn to rags ; and, what was to them of more importance still, they ivere out 

 of tobacco ! 



One of the great difficulties experienced was landing the stones on the rock from 

 the lighters, which, towed out by a steamer, were cast off as near the landing-place as 

 possible and then towed in by boats. The landing service throughout the whole progress 

 of the works was one of danger and anxiety, and many narrow escapes were made. On 

 many occasions the men who steered the lighters ran great risks, and it was often found 

 necessary to lash them to the rails, to prevent them being thrown overboard by the sudden 

 bounds of the vessels, or being carried away by the weight of water which swept their 

 decks as they were towed through a heavy sea. Sometimes they were forced, owing to 

 the heavy seas which threatened to throw the vessels on the top of the rock, to draw out 

 the lighters from the wharf without landing a single stone, after they had been towed 

 through a stormy passage of thirteen miles. One day, during the very best part of the 

 season, so sudden were the jerks of the vessel before the sea, that eight large warps, or cables, 

 were snapped like threads, and the lighter was carried violently before a crested wave which 

 rolled unexpectedly upon her. Those who stood on deck were thrown flat on their faces, and 

 imagined that the vessel had been laid high and dry on the top of the rock. Yet, in spite 

 of the short season and great difficulties of the work, no less than 120 lighters were 

 towed out and discharged in the summer and autumn of 1841. During the progress of 

 building the lighthouse, cranes and other materials were swept away by the waves, and 

 daily risks were run in blasting the splintery gneiss, or by the falling of heavy bodies 

 from the tower on the narrow space below, to which so many persons were necessarily 

 confined. Yet no loss of life or limb occurred ; and " our remarkable preservation was 

 viewed/' says Stevenson, "as in a peculiar manner the gracious work of Him by whom 

 ' the very hairs of our head are all numbered/ ' 



The light was first exhibited on the 1st of February, 1844. It is a revolving apparatus, 

 63 



