as had been hitherto untried in engineering; for while the Eddystone lighthouse,
which was proposed as the model, occupied a site that was barely covered by
the tide at high water, the Bell Rock was barely uncovered at low water. These
difficulties made the corporation of the Trinity House of Leith advertise for
plans that might lead to the construction of a suitable edifice; and not less than
three temporary experimental beacons were successively erected upon the rock,
which were all speedily carried away. Fortunately it happened that the only
man of the day who seemed capable of overcoming such a combination of
obstacles from winds, and waves, and sunken rock, had long been brooding
silently upon the enterprise, and devising the means of success. Even before
the storm of 1799, Mr. Stevenson had prepared a pillar-formed model of a lighthouse, which he hoped might be available for the Bell Rock; and in the summer of 1800 he visited the rock in person, that he might judge of its applicability. He soon saw that his pillar-shaped model would not suit the situation; but he also saw that it was practicable to erect a solid stone edifice instead,
upon the plan of the Eddystone lighthouse. To work, therefore, he went, in the construction of a new model, where massive blocks of stone were to be dovetailed into each other, so as to resist every pressure, both laterally and perpendicularly, and so connected with iron cased in lead, as to be proof against disruption; while the building itself, high enough to surmount the waves at their
wildest, was to occupy to the best advantage the narrow foundation which the
rock afforded, and present the smallest front to the force of the tempest. These
plans and models being finished, were submitted to the Lighthouse Board, with
estimates of the expense of such a building, which amounted to £42,685, 8s.
After much demur, arising from the expense of the undertaking, his proposal
was duly sanctioned by act of parliament, and Mr. Stevenson was empowered
to commence operations. Now it was, however, that a full sense of his new
responsibility, hitherto viewed from a distance, assumed, when looked fully in
the face, a very formidable aspect. "The erection," he thus wrote in a MS. which he kept for his own use, "on a rock about twelve miles from land, and so low in the water that the foundation course must be at least on a level with
the lowest tide, was an enterprise so full of uncertainty and hazard, that it could not fail to press on my mind. I felt regret that I had not had the opportunity of a greater range of practice to fit me for such an undertaking. But I was
fortified by an expression of my friend Mr. Clerk [of Eldin, the improver of naval tactics], in one of our conversations upon its difficulties. ’This work,' said he, 'is unique, and can be little forwarded by experience of ordinary masonic operations. In this case, "Smeaton's Narrative" must be the text-book, and energy and perseverance the pratique.' "
The work was commenced by searching for such a vessel as would serve for a temporary lighthouse, as well as a habitation for the workmen. This was soon found in a Prussian fishing-vessel of 82 tons, one of the captures of the war, which being rounded off both at stem and stern, was best adapted by its form for the new service in which it was to be employed. After having been suitably fitted up and rigged, this Pharos, as it was now named, was furnished with a large copper lantern for each of its three masts, and moored near the Bell Rock. Another vessel, expressly built for the purpose, called the Smeaton, of 40 tons, was employed in bringing the stones for the building, that were hewn in the quarries of Rubeslaw near Aberdeen, and Mylnefield near Dundee, and conveyed to Arbroath, the nearest harbour to the rock. The work itself was
