d on the 2nd of this month such a spar would have
been sufficient to save us till she could have come to our relief.

Sunday, 20th Sept.

The wind this morning was variable, but the weather continued extremely
favourable for the operations throughout the whole day. At six a.m. the
boats were in motion, and the raft, consisting of four of the six
principal beams of the beacon-house, each measuring about sixteen inches
square, and fifty feet in length, was towed to the rock, where it was
anchored, that it might _ground_ upon it as the water ebbed. The sailors
and artificers, including all hands, to-day counted no fewer than
fifty-two, being perhaps the greatest number of persons ever collected
upon the Bell Rock. It was early in the tide when the boats reached the
rock, and the men worked a considerable time up to their middle in
water, every one being more eager than his neighbour to be useful. Even
the four artificers who had hitherto declined working on Sunday were
to-day most zealous in their exertions. They had indeed become so
convinced of the precarious nature and necessity of the work that they
never afterwards absented themselves from the rock on Sunday when a
landing was practicable.

Having made fast a piece of very good new line, at about two-thirds from
the lower end of one of the beams, the purchase-tackle of the derrick
was hooked into the turns of the line, and it was speedily raised by the
number of men on the rock and the power of the winch tackle. When this
log was lifted to a sufficient height, its foot, or lower end, was
_stepped_ into the spot which had been previously prepared for it. Two
of the great iron stanchions were then set in their respective holes on
each side of the beam, when a rope was passed round them and the beam,
to prevent it from slipping till it could be more permanently fixed. The
derrick, or upright spar used for carrying the tackle to raise the first
beam, was placed in such a position as to become useful for supporting
the upper end of it, which now became, in its turn, the prop of the
tackle for raising the second beam. The whole difficulty of this
operation was in the raising and propping of the first beam, which
became a convenient derrick for raising the second, these again a pair
of shears for lifting the third, and the shears a triangle for raising
the fourth. Having thus got four of the six principal beams set on end,
it required a considerable degree of trouble to