with the
praam-boat. As there was now too much wind for the pilot-boat to return
to Arbroath, she was made fast astern of the floating light, and the
crew remained on board till next day, when the weather moderated. There
can be very little doubt that the appearance of James Spink with his
boat on this critical occasion was the means of preventing the loss of
lives at the rock this morning. When these circumstances, some years
afterwards, came to the knowledge of the Board, a small pension was
ordered to our faithful pilot, then in his seventieth year; and he still
continues to wear the uniform clothes and badge of the Lighthouse
service. Spink is a remarkably strong man, whose _tout ensemble_ is
highly characteristic of a North-country fisherman. He usually dresses
in a _pe-jacket_, cut after a particular fashion, and wears a large,
flat, blue bonnet. A striking likeness of Spink in his pilot-dress, with
the badge or insignia on his left arm which is characteristic of the
boatmen in the service of the Northern Lights, has been taken by Howe,
and is in the writer's possession.

Thursday, 3rd. Sept.

The bell rung this morning at five o'clock, but the writer must
acknowledge, from the circumstances of yesterday, that its sound was
extremely unwelcome. This appears also to have been the feelings of the
artificers, for when they came to be mustered, out of twenty-six, only
eight, besides the foreman and seamen, appeared upon deck to accompany
the writer to the rock. Such are the baneful effects of anything like
misfortune or accident connected with a work of this description. The
use of argument to persuade the men to embark in cases of this kind
would have been out of place, as it is not only discomfort, or even the
risk of the loss of a limb, but life itself that becomes the question.
The boats, notwithstanding the thinness of our ranks, left the vessel at
half-past five. The rough weather of yesterday having proved but a
summer's gale, the wind came to-day in gentle breezes; yet, the
atmosphere being cloudy, it had not a very favourable appearance. The
boats reached the rock at six a.m., and the eight artificers who landed
were employed in clearing out the bat-holes for the beacon-house, and
had a very prosperous tide of four hours' work, being the longest yet
experienced by half an hour.

The boats left the rock again at ten o'clock, and the weather having
cleared up as we drew near the vessel, the eighteen artif