ing the
difficulty of this process in such peculiar circumstances, not a single
stone was lost, or even seriously damaged, during the whole course of
the erection of the tower, which occupied four years in building, or
rather, we should say, four _seasons_, for no work was or could be done
during winter.

A description of the first entire course of the lower part of the tower,
which was built solid, will be sufficient to give an idea of the general
nature of the whole work.

This course or layer consisted of 123 blocks of stone, those in the
interior being sandstone, while the outer casing was of granite. Each
stone was fastened to its neighbour above, below, and around by means of
dovetails, joggles, oaken trenails, and mortar. Each course was thus
built from its centre to its circumference, and as all the courses from
the foundation to a height of thirty feet were built in this way, the
tower, up to that height, became a mass of solid stone, as strong and
immovable as the Bell Rock itself. Above this, or thirty feet from the
foundation, the entrance-door was placed, and the hollow part of the
tower began.

Thus much, then, as to the tower itself, the upper part of which will be
found described in a future chapter. In regard to the subsidiary works,
the erection of the beacon house was in itself a work of considerable
difficulty, requiring no common effort of engineering skill. The
principal beams of this having been towed to the rock by the _Smeaton_,
all the stanchions and other material for setting them up were landed,
and the workmen set about erecting them as quickly as possible, for if a
single day of bad weather should occur before the necessary fixtures
could be made, the whole apparatus would be infallibly swept away.

The operation being, perhaps, the most important of the season, and one
requiring to be done with the utmost expedition, all hands were, on the
day in which its erection was begun, gathered on the rock, besides ten
additional men engaged for the purpose, and as many of the seamen from
the _Pharos_ and other vessels as could be spared. They amounted
altogether to fifty-two in number.

About half-past eight o'clock in the morning a derrick, or mast, thirty
feet high, was erected, and properly supported with guy-ropes for
suspending the block for raising the first principal beam of the beacon,
and a winch-machine was bolted down to the rock for working the
purchase-tackle. The necessar