WRECKS AND MINOT LIGHT. 



473 



lighthouses are dotted with overturns of small craft of all classes 

 in the simple attempt at landing. 



In the face of this malevolent spirit of unrest, the Cohasset 

 men sailed forth under Captain Alexander to conquest and 

 achievement. The first step was to remove the stumps of piling 

 which still adhered to the rock. " Three things," said Captain 

 Alexander, " were necessary, a perfectly smooth sea, a dead calm, 

 and low spring tides. This could only occur six times during any 

 one lunation, three at full moon and three at the change." 



A party sailed from the cove and under these conditions 

 grappled for the ruins. A Scandinavian who passed under the 

 name of Peter Fox, a fearless fellow and an accomplished 

 swimmer, would locate the iron which had been carried into 

 deeper water, then diving with a light tackle would hook on to 

 the fragment and strike out for the surface. In this way, and by 

 wrenching from the rock-bed those fragments which still remained 

 fixed, the ledge was cleared ; and a new iron framework was in- 

 serted in the holes left by the wrecked tower, pile for pile, all 

 save the central shaft, the cavity for which formed the center of 

 the base circle, and above which the well for fresh water was 

 afterwards shaped. The skeleton frame was of wrought iron, and 

 was painted a bright red. The " spider " which capped it served 

 as a landing stage during the subsequent proceedings. 



The working season was from April i to September 15. During 

 the following January another fearful gale obscured the ledge ; and 

 when the seas moderated it was seen that the work had shared the 

 fate of the first tower. Even Captain Alexander's dauntless spirit 

 was shaken. The labor of two seasons was cast aside like a toy 

 house. " If tough wrought iron won't stand it," said he, " I have 

 my fears about a stone tower." 



A boat load of sober men rowed out to the scene of the wreck, 

 and thoroughly inspected the work of the storm, with the happy 

 result, as it proved, of an entire revulsion of feeling. During the 

 gale, a bark-rigged vessel, the New Empire, loaded with cotton, 

 had been driven ashore, and lay in an easy position near White 

 Head, the northern buttress of Cohasset Cove. At the suggestion 

 of Captain John Cook, a famous Cohasset rigger, the party visited 

 the disabled craft and inquired whether during the storm any 

 unusual shock had been felt. No one had noticed any, but as the 



