icers who had
remained on board were observed upon deck, but as the boats approached
they sought their way below, being quite ashamed of their conduct. This
was the only instance of refusal to go to the rock which occurred during
the whole progress of the work, excepting that of the four men who
declined working upon Sunday, a case which the writer did not conceive
to be at all analogous to the present. It may here be mentioned, much to
the credit of these four men, that they stood foremost in embarking for
the rock this morning.

Saturday, 5th Sept.

It was fortunate that a landing was not attempted this evening, for at
eight o'clock the wind shifted to E.S.E., and at ten it had become a
hard gale, when fifty fathoms of the floating light's hempen cable were
veered out. The gale still increasing, the ship rolled and laboured
excessively, and at midnight eighty fathoms of cable were veered out;
while the sea continued to strike the vessel with a degree of force
which had not before been experienced.

Sunday, 6th Sept.

During the last night there was little rest on board of the _Pharos_,
and daylight, though anxiously wished for, brought no relief, as the
gale continued with unabated violence. The sea struck so hard upon the
vessel's bows that it rose in great quantities, or in "green seas," as
the sailors termed it, which were carried by the wind as far aft as the
quarter-deck, and not unfrequently over the stern of the ship
altogether. It fell occasionally so heavily on the skylight of the
writer's cabin, though so far aft as to be within five feet of the helm,
that the glass was broken to pieces before the dead-light could be got
into its place, so that the water poured down in great quantities. In
shutting out the water, the admission of light was prevented, and in the
morning all continued in the most comfortless state of darkness. About
ten o'clock a.m. the wind shifted to N.E., and blew, if possible, harder
than before, and it was accompanied by a much heavier swell of sea. In
the course of the gale, the part of the cable in the hause-hole had been
so often shifted that nearly the whole length of one of her hempen
cables, of 120 fathoms, had been veered out, besides the chain-moorings.
The cable, for its preservation, was also carefully served or wattled
with pieces of canvas round the windlass, and with leather well greased
in the hause-hole. In this state things remained during the whole day,
every sea