“But even in his dying fear One dreadful sound could the Rover hear,— A sound as if with the Inchcape bell The devil below was ringing his knell.”
It would be difficult to name a position on the Scottish coast where a lighthouse was more a matter of necessity for the safety of ships than this long-famous rock. The beacons which, one after another, had been erected upon it, the furious waves had swept away; and a structure was needed not less solid and permanent than that of the Eddystone. To design such a structure, and to plant it solidly amid the waves, became, in 1806, the task of Mr. Robert Stevenson. As the rock was frequently under water to the depth of twelve feet, the task was scarcely less difficult than that whose successful achievement has helped to perpetuate the name and fame of Smeaton.
On the 7th of August 1807 the work was begun. The first stage was the erection of a wooden workshop and residence for the artificers, and this apparently simple operation occupied the whole season, the supports having to be firmly fixed in holes dug out of the solid rock. The hardness and compactness of the sandstone, however, soon blunted their tools, and rendered necessary the constant employment of a smith with his forge. But it often happened, says Mr. Stevenson, to our annoyance and disappointment, in the early state of the work, when the smith was in the middle of “a favourite heat,” and fashioning some useful article, or sharpening the tools, after the flood-tide had compelled the men to strike work, a sea would come rolling over the rocks, dash out the fire, and endanger that indispensable implement, the bellows; or, if the sea were smooth, while the smith often stood at work knee-deep in the water, the tide rose imperceptibly, first cooling the exterior of the fireplace, or hearth, and then quietly blackening and extinguishing the fire from below. Mr. Stevenson was frequently amused at the anxiety and perplexity of the unfortunate smith when coaxing his fire, and endeavouring in vain to contend against the rising tide. Obviously the work would go on but slowly, until the workshop (also intended to serve as a beacon) was completed, and the smith protected against the insidious waters.[36]