S8 Account of the Erection of the Bell Roch Lighthouse. 
might be erected, together with the light-room and its appara- 
tus, in the course of the summer months. 
A large gangway or bridge of timber had been prepared du- 
ring the winter, to render the communication between the bea- 
con-house and light-house more perfect than by means of the 
rope-ladder. This gangway was also calculated to be of great 
use for raising the materials upon the building. At taking pos- 
session of the beacon-house, in the month of May 1810, the 
lower parts of the principal beams, and the joisting of the lower 
floor, were found thickly coated with a line downy conferva, 
while the upper parts were whitened with the mute of the nu- 
merous sea-fowl which had roosted upon it during winter. 
The first circumstance attended to in commencing the build- 
ing operations of 1810, was to fix upon the proper position of 
the entrance-door of the light-house. In this Mr Stevenson 
was assisted by carefully observing the range of the sea upon 
the solid part of the building, and by tracing the growth of 
fuci and confervse on the walls. The heaviest seas being in this 
manner determined to be from the north-east, the door was con- 
sequently laid off towards the south-west. This and other pre- 
liminary steps having been taken, the first cargo of stones was 
brought to the Rock about the middle of May ; and, from the 
very complete and systematic arrangement of the works, the 
building operations were brought to a close during the month 
of August, without any material obstacle having been expe- 
rienced. This greatly increased facility in building was ascri- 
bed partly to the experience acquired by practice in former sea- 
sons, in landing and raising the materials, and partly to the ad- 
mirable adaptation of the Balance-crane, formerly mentioned, for 
laying the stones in their places upon the building. 
The works were, however, occasionally interrupted, by the 
shipping being dispersed in gales of wind, when they were 
sometimes driven upwards of forty miles from their station. At 
such times the artificers were closely cooped up in their bar- 
rack upon the rock, in a state of painful inactivity, and with 
prospects often very forlorn. A curious, and rather alarming 
effect of the limnoria^ was discovered this summer on the beams 
of the Beacon-house. Though the lower parts of the fabric were 
regularly charred with blazing furze, and coated with thick 
