rock which, unlighted, would be certain to wreck
numerous vessels and destroy many lives in time to come, as it had done
in time past. Delay in this matter might cause death and disaster,
therefore it was deemed right to carry on the work on Sundays. [See
note 1.]

An accident happened during the raising of the last large beam of the
beacon, which, although alarming, fortunately caused no damage.
Considering the nature of the work, it is amazing, and greatly to the
credit of all engaged, that so few accidents occurred during the
building of the lighthouse.

When they were in the act of hoisting the sixth and last log, and just
about to cant it into its place, the iron hook of the principal
purchase-block gave way, and the great beam, measuring fifty feet in
length, fell upon the rock with a terrible crash; but although there
were fifty-two men around the beacon at the time, not one was touched,
and the beam itself received no damage worth mentioning.

Soon after the beacon had been set up, and partially secured to the
rock, a severe gale sprang up, as if Ocean were impatient to test the
handiwork of human engineers. Gales set in from the eastward,
compelling the attending sloops to slip from their moorings, and run for
the shelter of Arbroath and Saint Andrews, and raising a sea on the Bell
Rock which was described as terrific, the spray rising more than thirty
feet in the air above it.

In the midst of all this turmoil the beacon stood securely, and after
the weather moderated, permitting the workmen once more to land, it was
found that no damage had been done by the tremendous breaches of the sea
over the rock.

That the power of the waves had indeed been very great, was evident from
the effects observed on the rock itself, and on materials left there.
Masses of rock upwards of a ton in weight had been cast up by the sea,
and then, in their passage over the Bell Rock, had made deep and
indelible ruts. An anchor of a ton weight, which had been lost on one
side of the rock, was found to have been washed up and _over_ it to the
other side. Several large blocks of granite that had been landed and
left on a ledge, were found to have been swept away like pebbles, and
hurled into a hole at some distance; and the heavy hearth of the smith's
forge, with the ponderous anvil, had been washed from their places of
supposed security.

From the time of the setting up of the beacon a new era in the work
began. Some of