o'clock this morning it was breaking into the cook's berth, when he rang
the alarm-bell, and all hands turned out to attend to their personal
safety. The floor of the smith's, or mortar gallery, was now completely
burst up by the force of the sea, when the whole of the deals and the
remaining articles upon the floor were swept away, such as the cast-iron
mortar-tubs, the iron hearth of the forge, the smith's bellows, and even
his anvil were thrown down upon the rock. Before the tide rose to its
full height to-day some of the artificers passed along the bridge into
the lighthouse, to observe the effects of the sea upon it, and they
reported that they had felt a slight tremulous motion in the building
when great seas struck it in a certain direction, about high-water mark.
On this occasion the sprays were again observed to wet the balcony, and
even to come over the parapet wall into the interior of the light-room.
Thursday, 23rd Aug.
The wind being at W.S.W., and the weather more moderate, both the tender
and the _Smeaton_ got to their moorings on the 23rd, when hands were
employed in transporting the sash-frames from on board of the _Smeaton_
to the rock. In the act of setting up one of these frames upon the
bridge, it was unguardedly suffered to lose its balance, and in saving
it from damage, Captain Wilson met with a severe bruise in the groin, on
the seat of a gun-shot wound received in the early part of his life.
This accident laid him aside for several days.
Monday, 27th Aug.
The sash-frames of the light-room, eight in number, and weighing each
254 pounds, having been got safely up to the top of the building were
ranged on the balcony in the order in which they were numbered for their
places on the top of the parapet-wall; and the balance-crane, that
useful machine having now lifted all the heavier articles, was unscrewed
and lowered, to use the landing-master's phrase, "in mournful silence."
Sunday, 2nd Sept.
The steps of the stair being landed, and all the weightier articles of
the light-room got up to the balcony, the wooden bridge was now to be
removed, as it had a very powerful effect upon the beacon when a heavy
sea struck it, and could not possibly have withstood the storms of a
winter. Everything having been cleared from the bridge, and nothing left
but the two principal beams with their horizontal braces, James Glen, at
high-water, proceeded with a saw to cut through the beams at the end
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