Chapter IV: Operations of 1838

Temporary Barrack on Rock -- Tools and machinery -- Steam Tender
for the works -- Employment and wages of workmen -- Progress of
the outfit for the season’s operations -- Embark for Skerryvore --
Lay down moorings, and try to land on the Rock -- Driven to Mull
-- First day’s work on the Rock -- Shipment of materials at
Glasgow and Greenock -- Reach Tyree -- Driven to Mull -- Return to
Tyree -- First good day’s work on the Rock -- Sudden gale and
great peril to the vessels -- Reach Hynish in safety -- Detained
by bad weather four days at Hynish -- Return to the Rock and have
six days of good weather -- Erection of the pyramid of the wooden
barrack -- Mode of determining the length of the beams, and the
sites for their fixtures -- Pyramid completed -- Mode of living
while erecting the barrack -- Shoals of Medusæ seen -- Driven by
a gale to Mull -- Return to Hynish and are driven to Coll --
Return to the Rock -- Driven to Tyree -- Return to the Rock --
Horizontal braces fixed -- Driven to Mull -- Heavy gale -- Timber
cast on Tyree -- Return to Rock and further progress of barrack --
Last day’s work on Rock this season -- Precaution for the benefit
of shipwrecked seamen -- View from top of pyramid -- Destruction
of the barrack during a gale -- Letter from Mr Hogben -- Proceed
to Skerryvore -- State in which the Rock was found -- Cause of the
destruction of the barrack -- Preparations for a new barrack --
Works at Hynish -- Hynish quarries, 71

CHAPTER V.

OPERATIONS OF 1839.

Shipping station and pier at Hynish -- Granite quarries in Mull --
Observations on the quarrying of granite -- Dressing of the
Lighthouse blocks -- Excavation of foundation for the Lighthouse
Tower on the Skerryvore Rock -- Fitting up of the second barrack
on the Rock -- Sudden death of George Middlemiss -- Wharf and
landing-place on the Rock -- Ring-bolts, water-tanks, and railways
-- Incidents of the season -- Effects of a gale from the
south-west -- Mutiny of the crew -- Near approach of the vessels
to the Rock, and other circumstances shewing the importance of a
Light on the Skerryvore, 107

CHAPTER VI.

OPERATIONS OF 1840.

Hynish workyard -- Hynish pier -- The Rock -- Life in the barrack
-- Foundation-pit -- Landing of the materials on the Rock --
Laying the first stone, 140

CHAPTER VII.

OPERATIONS OF 1841.

Hynish workyard -- The Rock -- The waves -- Colours of the
breaking waves -- The seals, 151

CHAPTER VIII.

OPERATIONS OF 1842.

State of the Rock in Spring of 1842 -- Commencement of Rock
operations -- Last stone -- The Lantern, 163

CHAPTER IX.

CONCLUDING OPERATIONS AND EXHIBITION OF THE LIGHT.

Harbour works -- Bo Pheg beacon -- Light-keepers’ and seamen’s
houses -- Concluding works on the Rock, such as pointing, &c. --
Interior fittings of the Tower -- Light-room apparatus, and first
exhibition of the Light -- Removal of the barrack from the Rock --
Expense, 169