this spot lay chiefly
in the fact that it was so widely scattered. The ridge runs like a broken
backbone for a distance of some eight miles.... In rough weather the
whole of the rocks are covered, and the waves, beating heavily on the
mass, convert the scene into one of indescribable tumult....
"There was only one point where a tower could be placed, and this was
so exposed that the safe handling of men and material constituted a
grave responsibility."
It was necessary to erect a tower one hundred and thirty feet high; "the
loftiest and weightiest work of its character that had ever been
contemplated up to this time....
"The Atlantic swell, which rendered landing on the ridge precarious
and hazardous, did not permit the men to be housed upon a floating
home, as had been the practice in the early days of the Bell Rock tower.
In order to permit the work to go forward as uninterruptedly as the sea
would allow, a peculiar barrack was erected. It was a house on stilts,
the legs being sunk firmly into the rock, with the living quarters
perched some fifty feet up in the air.
"Residence in this tower was eerie. The men climbed the ladder and
entered a small room, which served the purposes of kitchen,
living-room, and parlor....
"When a storm was raging, the waves, as they combed over the rock,
shook the legs violently and scurried under the floor in seething foam.
Now and again a roller, rising higher than its fellows, broke upon the
rock and sent a mass of water against the flooring to hammer at the
door. Above the living-room were the sleeping quarters, high and dry,
save when a shower of spray fell upon the roof and walls like heavy
hail.... The men, however, were not perturbed. Sleeping, even under
such conditions, was far preferable to doubtful rest in a bunk upon an
attendant vessel, rolling and pitching with the motion of the sea. They
had had a surfeit of such experience ... while the barrack was under
erection.
"For two years it withstood the seas without incident, and the engineer
and men came to regard the eyrie as safe as a house on shore. But one
night the little colony received a shock. The angry Atlantic got one or
two of its trip-hammer blows well home, and smashed the structure to
fragments. Fortunately, at the time it was untenanted."
No time was lost in rebuilding the barrack and this time it withstood all
tests until it was torn down after Skerryvore was finished.
"While the foundations were being prepared, and until the barrack was
constructed, the men ran other terrible risks every morning and night
landing upon and leaving the polished surface of the reef. Five months
during the summer was the working season, but even then many days
and weeks were often lost owing to the swell being too great to permit
the rowing boat to come alongside. The engineer relates that the work
was 'a good lesson in the school of patience,' because the delays were
frequent and galling, while every storm which got up and expended its
rage upon the reef left its mark indelibly among the engineer's stock in
trade. Cranes and other materials were swept away as if they were
corks; lashings, no matter how strong, were snapped like pack-threads.
"Probably the worst experience was when the men on the rock were
weather-bound for seven weeks during one season.... Their provisions
sank to a very low level, they ran short of fuel, their sodden clothing
was worn to rags....
"Six years were occupied in the completion of the work, and, as may be
imagined, the final touches were welcomed with thankfulness by those
who had been concerned in the enterprise."
It was in meteorological researches and illumination of lighthouses,
however, that Thomas Stevenson did his greatest work. It was he who
brought to perfection the revolving light now so generally used.
In spite of this and other valuable inventions his name has remained
little known, owing to the fact that none of his inventions were ever
patented. The Stevensons believed that, holding government
appointments, any original work they did belonged to the nation. "A
patent not only brings in money but spreads reputation," writes his son,
"and my father's instruments enter anonymously into a hundred light
rooms and are passed anonymously over in a hundred reports, where
the least considerable patent would stand out and tell its author's story."
He was beloved among a wide circle of friends and the esteem of those
in his profession was shown when in 1884 they chose him for president
of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. To the general public, however, he
remained unknown in spite of the fact that "His lights
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