Account of the Erection of the Bell Roch Lighthouse^ ^5- 
perilous and uncertain nature of any arrangement that could 
have been made for this ceremony, instead of its having been 
performed only in the presence of those immediately connected 
^with the work, and of a few accidental spectators from the neigh-, 
bouring shore, counting in all about eighty persons, many thou- 
sands would have attended upon an occasion which must have 
called forth the first dignitaries of the country, in conferring the 
highest honours of masonry. The writer may, however, confi- 
dently affirm, that, situate as the work was, nothing could add 
to the sensation felt, by 'ail present, in having now got matters in 
so advanced a state, as to be able to commence the building 
operations.” 
After this period the work went on with much alacrity, from 
ten to twenty blocks of stone being generally laid in the course 
of a tide. Owing to the use of cranes, instead of the more or- 
dinary apparatus of sheer-poles, much precision and facility 
were given to the operations of the builders, and, by the latter 
end of September, the works were brought to a conclusion for 
the season. 
The building, facing now on a level with the highest part 
of the margin of the foundation- pit, or about 5 or 6 inches 
above the lower bed*of the foundation-stone, is computed at 388 
tons of stone; consisting of 400 blocks, connected with 738 
oaken trenails, and 1215 pairs of oaken wedges. The number 
of hours of low- water work upon the rock this season, was 265, 
of which number only 80 were employed in building. It was 
further highly satisfactory to find, that the apparatus, both in 
the work-yard at Arbroath, and also the craft and building-ap- 
paratus at the rock, were found to answer every purpose much 
beyond expectation. The operations of this season, therefore, 
afforded the most flattering prospects of the practicability of 
completing the solid part of the building, or first 30 feet of the 
light-house in the course of another year.” 
The builders returned to their barracks and work-yard at Ar- 
broath, for the winter; and, on the tender's entering that har- 
bour, the artificers were greeted with cheers from their com- 
rades and friends ashore, who thronged upon the quays to wel- 
come their return. This season’s success, however, was che- 
