rably less, and the sailors were enabled to walk upon deck with
some degree of freedom. But, to the astonishment of every one, it was
soon discovered that the floating light was adrift! The windlass was
instantly manned, and the men soon gave out that there was no strain
upon the cable. The mizzen sail, which was bent for the occasional
purpose of making the vessel ride more easily to the tide, was
immediately set, and the other sails were also hoisted in a short time,
when, in no small consternation, we bore away about one mile to the
south-westward of the former station, and there let go the best bower
anchor and cable in twenty fathoms water, to ride until the swell of the
sea should fall, when it might be practicable to grapple for the
moorings, and find a better anchorage for the ship.

Tuesday, 15th Sept.

This morning, at five a.m., the bell rung as a signal for landing upon
the rock, a sound which, after a lapse of ten days, it is believed was
welcomed by every one on board. There being a heavy breach of sea at
the eastern creek, we landed, though not without difficulty, on the
western side, every one seeming more eager than another to get upon the
rock; and never did hungry men sit down to a hearty meal with more
appetite than the artificers began to pick the dulse from the rocks.
This marine plant had the effect of reviving the sickly, and seemed to
be no less relished by those who were more hardy.

While the water was ebbing, and the men were roaming in quest of their
favourite morsel, the writer was examining the effects of the storm upon
the forge and loose apparatus left upon the rock. Six large blocks of
granite which had been landed, by way of experiment, on the 1st instant,
were now removed from their places and, by the force of the sea, thrown
over a rising ledge into a hole at the distance of twelve or fifteen
paces from the place on which they had been landed. This was a pretty
good evidence both of the violence of the storm and the agitation of the
sea upon the rock. The safety of the smith's forge was always an object
of essential regard. The ash-pan of the hearth or fireplace, with its
weighty cast-iron back, had been washed from their places of supposed
security; the chains of attachment had been broken, and these ponderous
articles were found at a very considerable distance in a hole on the
western side of the rock; while the tools and picks of the Aberdeen
masons were scattered about in eve