The Lighthouse

Brand, and the burglary was believed to be one of t

en place had made a deep impression on the public mind. The position and dangerous character of the Bell Rock, in particular, had been

warned at night and in foggy weather of their approach to the rock, the great danger of which consists in its being a sunken reef, lying twelve miles from the nearest land, and exactly in the course of vessels making for the firths of Forth and Tay. The leg

ted on this rock until the beginning of the nineteenth century, after a great storm in 1799 had stirre

mission, for three days. Great numbers of ships were driven from their moorings in the Downs and Yarmouth Roads; and t

nd the firths of Forth and Moray. The mouth of the Thames is too much encumbered by sand-banks to be approached at night or during bad weather. The Humber is also considerably obstructed in th

r the Moray, as it lies only a short way to the north of the latter; an

trying to avoid them, and much hardship was sustained by mariners who preferred to seek shelter in higher latitudes. It was es

ter the first night of the storm, the wrecks of seven vessels were found in one

and could tell the tale of their experience, and if we landsmen could properly appreciate it, we should un

or the rock on which the lighthouse was to be erected was a sunken reef, visible only at low tide during two or three hours, and quite inaccessible in bad weather. It was the nearest approach to building a house in the sea that had yet

ed with ten or twelve feet of water every tide; a tower which would have to be built perfectly, yet hastily; a tower which should form a comfortable home, fit for human beings to dwell in, and yet strong enough to withstand the utmost fury of the waves, not merely whirling round it

Stevenson of Edinburgh, whose perseverance and talent shall be commemorated by the grandest and mos

struction of this lighthouse. Our peculiar task shall be to relate those inc

t and rendezvous and guide to the three smaller vessels employed in the work, as well as a light to shipping generally, and a building-yard was established at Arbroath, where every single stone of the lighthouse was cut and nicely fitted before being conveyed to the rock. Neither shall we tell of the difficul

te detail, in the large and interesting work

into the solid rock; that the men employed could work only between two and three hours at a time, and had to pump the water out of this pit each tide before they could resume operations; that the work could only be done in the summer months, and when engaged in it the men dwelt either in the Pharos floating light, or in one of the atte

one fine summer evening, our friend and hero, Ruby Bra