ith little exception, been six months on the
station at the Bell Rock, and during the last four months few of the
squad of builders had been ashore. In particular, Mr. Peter Logan, the
foreman, and Mr. Robert Selkirk, principal builder, had never once left
the rock. The artificers, having made good wages during their stay, like
seamen upon a return voyage, were extremely happy, and spent the evening
with much innocent mirth and jollity.

In reflecting upon the state of the matters at the Bell Rock during the
working months, when the writer was much with the artificers, nothing
can equal the happy manner in which these excellent workmen spent their
time. They always went from Arbroath to their arduous task cheering, and
they generally returned in the same hearty state. While at the rock,
between the tides, they amused themselves in reading, fishing, music,
playing cards, draughts, etc., or in sporting with one another. In the
workyard at Arbroath the young men were almost, without exception,
employed in the evening at school, in writing and arithmetic, and not a
few were learning architectural drawing, for which they had every
convenience and facility, and were, in a very obliging manner, assisted
in their studies by Mr. David Logan, clerk of the works. It therefore
affords the most pleasing reflections to look back upon the pursuits of
about sixty individuals who for years conducted themselves, on all
occasions, in a sober and rational manner.

IV

OPERATIONS OF 1810

Thursday, 10th May.

The wind had shifted to-day to W.N.W., when the writer, with
considerable difficulty, was enabled to land upon the rock for the first
time this season, at ten a.m. Upon examining the state of the building,
and apparatus in general, he had the satisfaction to find everything in
good order. The mortar in all the joints was perfectly entire. The
building, now thirty feet in height, was thickly coated with _fuci_ to
the height of about fifteen feet, calculating from the rock; on the
eastern side, indeed, the growth of seaweed was observable to the full
height of thirty feet, and even on the top or upper bed of the last-laid
course, especially towards the eastern side, it had germinated, so as to
render walking upon it somewhat difficult.

The beacon-house was in a perfectly sound state, and apparently just as
it had been left in the month of November. But the tides being neap, the
lower parts, particularly where the beams re