Chapter XXI: Appendix: The Inchcape Rock

An old writer mentions a curious tradition, which may be worth
quoting. “By east the Isle of May,” says he, “twelve miles
from all land in the German Seas, lyes a great hidden rock,
called Inchcape, very dangerous for navigators, because it is
overflowed everie tide. It is reported in old times, upon the
saide rock there was a bell, fixed upon a tree or timber, which
rang continually, being moved by the sea, giving notice to the
saylers of the danger. This bell or clocke was put there and
maintained by the Abbot of Aberbrothok, and being taken down
by a sea pirate, a yeare therafter he perished upon the same
rocke, with ship and goodes, in the righteous judgement of
God.”--STODDART’S _Remarks on Scotland_.

No stir in the air, no stir in the sea,
The ship was still as she could be;
Her sails from heaven received no motion,
Her keel was steady in the ocean.

Without either sign or sound of their shock
The waves flowed over the Inchcape Rock;
So little they rose, so little they fell,
They did not move the Inchcape Bell.

The Abbot of Aberbrothok
Had placed that Bell on the Inchcape Rock;
On a buoy in the storm it floated and swung,
And over the waves its warning rung.

When the Rock was hid by the surge’s swell,
The mariners heard the warning Bell;
And then they knew the perilous Rock,
And blest the Abbot of Aberbrothok.

The Sun in heaven was shining gay,
All things were joyful on that day;
The sea-birds scream’d as they wheel’d round,
And there was joyaunce in their sound.

The buoy of the Inchcape Bell was seen
A darker speck on the ocean green;
Sir Ralph the Rover walk’d his deck,
And he fix’d his eye on the darker speck.

He felt the cheering power of spring,
It made him whistle, it made him sing;
His heart was mirthful to excess,
But the Rover’s mirth was wickedness.

His eye was on the Inchcape Float;
Quoth he, “My men, put out the boat,
And row me to the Inchcape Rock,
And I’ll plague the Abbot of Aberbrothok.”

The boat is lower’d, the boatmen row,
And to the Inchcape Rock they go;
Sir Ralph bent over from the boat,
And he cut the Bell from the Inchcape float.

Down sunk the Bell with a gurgling sound,
The bubbles rose and burst around;
Quoth Sir Ralph, “The next who comes to the Rock
Won’t bless the Abbot of Aberbrothok.”

Sir Ralph the Rover sail’d away,
He scour’d the seas for many a day;
And now grown rich with plunder’d store,
He steers his course for Scotland’s shore.

So thick a haze o’erspreads the sky
They cannot see the Sun on high;
The wind hath blown a gale all day,
At evening it hath died away.

On the deck the Rover takes his stand,
So dark it is they see no land.
Quoth Sir Ralph, “It will be lighter soon,
For there is the dawn of the rising Moon.”

“Canst hear,” said one, “the breakers roar?
For methinks we should be near the shore.”
“Now, where we are I cannot tell,
But I wish I could hear the Inchcape Bell.”

They hear no sound, the swell is strong;
Though the wind hath fallen they drift along,
Till the vessel strikes with a shivering shock,
“O Christ! it is the Inchcape Rock!”

Sir Ralph the Rover tore his hair;
He curst himself in his despair;
The waves rush in on every side,
The ship is sinking beneath the tide.

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.

INDEX.

Aberbrothock Abbey, 238.

Aberdeen Harbour, 130.

Adam, Robert, architect, 78, 80, 97, 98.

Adie, Alexander, optician, 51, 192.

Admiralty Survey, appeal for, 199.

---- Memoir of, 201.

Airy, Sir G. B., 52.

American Suspension Bridges, 163.

Anderson, Dr., 5, 6.

Anemometer, 257.

Annan Bridge, 160.

Ardrossan Harbour, 130.

Argand lamps. _See_ Lighthouse Illumination.

Astronomical Institution of Edinburgh, origin of, 265.

Backwater, value of, 131.

Balance crane, 181, 182.

Barclay, Dr. John, 119, 270.

Barnbougle, foreshore, 241.

Base line, measurement of, 196.

Baxter, Mr., architect, 78.

Beaufort, Sir F., 202.

Bell Rock Lighthouse:--Dangers of the rock, 13, 15;
ballad of Sir Ralph the Rover, 13, 274;
“Account” of, 14;
Mr. Stevenson’s design of 1800 for a stone tower, 16;
improvements on Smeaton’s tower in design and arrangement of
materials, 16-24;
Bill of 1802-3 thrown out on financial grounds, 18;
Mr. Telford and Mr. Rennie called in to support Mr. Stevenson’s
design, 18;
Act passed in 1806, 19;
progress of the work, 25;
attending boat breaks adrift, 27;
life in the floating lightship, 31;
boating between lightship and the rock, 37;
Mr. Stevenson’s anxiety for the workmen, 39;
Sunday work, 40;
life in the barrack or beacon, 42;
cranes invented for the work, 45, 181;
bust of Engineer placed in the tower by the Lighthouse Board, 45;
Sir Walter Scott’s visit to the tower, and lines inscribed in the
album, 47;
experiments on preservation of timber, 155;
experiments on iron, 159;
measurement of base line for ascertaining its distance from the
shore, 196;
cement rubble cofferdams used at, 252;
observations on fog and fog signals, 254;
Southey’s “Inchcape Rock,” 274.

Benson, Mr. (Covent Garden Theatre), 61.

Birkenhead Docks, 132-150.

Blackwood, W., publisher, 3.

Blair, Sir D. Hunter, 3.

Blasting, 203.

Bolts, unscrewing of, by the waves, 252.

Bremonteuil, M., 246.

Bridges:--Mr. Stevenson’s designs for Marykirk, Annan, Stirling,
and Hutcheson stone bridges, 160;
high level road bridge for Newcastle, 161;
bridge of built planks, 162;
new form of suspension bridge, 162-165;
paper on suspension bridges, 162;
provision for flood waters, 239.

Buoyage system, Mr. Stevenson’s, 253.

Burn, Mr., architect, 238, 239.

Canals:--Mr. Stevenson’s Reports on, upon one level without
lockage, 111;
Strathmore, 111;
Edinburgh and Glasgow, 111;
ship canals, 125;
canal between the Dee and Mersey, 132-150.

Carr Rock Beacon:--Design for, and tide machine for ringing bell or
sounding a whistle, 177.

Cast iron rails. _See_ Railways.

Cast iron tracks. _See_ Roads.

Cathcart, Viscount, 247.

Catoptric system. _See_ Lighthouse Illumination.

Cement. _See_ Mortar.

Clerk, John, of Eldin, 14, 15, 21, 22, 114.

Coal light. _See_ Isle of May.

Cockburn, Lord, 76.

Cofferdams, cement rubble, 252.

Colby, Colonel, 62, 202.

‘Comet’ steamer, accident to, 258.

Corran Ferry, 235.

Covent Garden Theatre, 60.

Cramond Suspension Bridge, 162, 165.

Cranes:--Moveable jib and balance cranes invented by Mr.
Stevenson, 45, 181.

Creech, Mr., 3.

Crichton, Mr., architect, 91, 92.

Cubitt, Sir W., 265.

Cumbrae Lighthouse, 2, 5.

Cycloidal talus wall, 242.

Davidson, Rev. Dr., 2.

Dee, River (Cheshire), 130, 132-150.

---- wasting effects of the sea at, 225.

Dee, River (Aberdeenshire), density of salt and fresh water at, 229.

Dioptric system. _See_ Lighthouse Illumination.

Double light, 58.

Douglass, J. N., C.E., 47, 176.

Dredging, 203.

Duff, Sheriff, 238, 271, 274.

Duncan, Sheriff, 190.

Dundee Harbour, 130, 249, 251.

Earl’s Palace, Kirkwall, 238.

East Lothian Railway, 124.

Eddystone Lighthouse, Mr. Stevenson’s inspection of, in 1813 and
1818, 46;
fears as to its security, 46;
to be rebuilt, 47.

Edgeworth, R., 66.

Edinburgh Astronomical Institution, origin of, 265.

Edinburgh, Mr. Stevenson’s design for approaches from the east by
Regent and London Roads, and opening up access to the Calton
Hill, 74;
sites for the new Jail, Court of Justiciary, and buildings in
Waterloo Place, 77;
Regent Bridge, 88;
Feuing Plan for eastern district of Edinburgh, 90;
improvement of accesses from the west and north and from
Granton, 90;
removal of Old Tolbooth Prison, 91;
proposal to remove the University buildings, 95.

Edinburgh Railway, 114.

Edinburgh and Glasgow, canal between, 111.

Elliot, A., architect, 76.

Erne, River, 130.

Erskine, Lord Advocate, 19, 271.

Facet reflector, 49.

Fenwick, Mr., 160.

Ferries, 101;
Ferry Engineering illustrated by Mr. Stevenson’s Report on the Tay
Ferries, 102;
Reports on various ferries, 108;
Orkney and Shetland Ferry, 108.

Fisheries:--Mr. Stevenson on the Scottish fisheries, 184;
origin of the Shetland herring fishery, 189;
sympiesometer suggested as a storm warning for fishing boats, 191;
habits of fishes, 193;
gases in air sacs of fishes, 194;
Dr. Handyside’s remarks on, 194;
Hon. B. F. Primrose on the slow progress of the Shetland
fisheries, 195.

Flashing light, invention of, by Mr. Stevenson, 57.

Floating light lantern, 58, 59.

Fog and fog signals, observations on, 254.

Foreshores, protection of, 241.

Forth, River, 130, 253.

Foulerton, Captain, Trinity House, 259.

Fowler, J., C.E., 131.

Fraserburgh Harbour, 130.

Fresnel, A., 62.

German Ocean, the alveus or bed of, 204, 205.

Graham, J. Gillespie, architect, 238.

Granton Harbour, 90, 130.

Gregory, Professor, 89.

Haldane, J., architect, 15.

Hamilton, T., architect, 76.

Hamilton, Sheriff, 271, 272.

Handyside, Dr. P. D., 194.

Harbours, Mr. Stevenson’s Reports on various, 130;
value of spending basins for, 130.

Harris, Mr., 60.

Henderson, Professor, 268.

Highland and Agricultural Society, 127, 246.

Hope, Lord President, 17, 18, 269.

Hope, Professor, 7.

Hutcheson Bridge, 160.

Hydraulic mortar, 240.

Hydrophore, Mr. Stevenson’s invention of, 231-235.

Inglis, Colonel, 269.

Intermittent light, invention of, by Mr. Stevenson, 57.

Irish Channel, cause of heavy seas in, 247;
sea routes across, 248.

Iron, experiments on the durability of, 159.

Isle of Man Lighthouses, 8.

---- observations on fog at, 256.

Isle of May Lighthouse, 3, 53, 58.

Jameson, Professor, 7.

Joseph, Samuel, R.A., 45.

Kincaid, Mr., 246.

Kinnairdhead Lighthouse, 5, 49, 196.

Laing, S., 185, 195.

Leach, Dr., 155.

Leslie, Sir J., 51, 100.

Lifeboats, 260.

Lighthouse Illumination:--early modes of, 48;
facet reflectors and lamps, 49;
silvered copper reflectors and Argand lamps, 49;
sliding lamp carriage, 51;
coal lights, 53;
distinctions among lights, 57;
dioptric system, 62.

Lightship lantern, Mr. Stevenson’s design for, 58, 59.

_Limnoria terebrans_, ravages of, on timber, 155.

Lipping of joints of masonry, 239.

Loch Eil, 235.

Locomotive engine, 124.

Lockhart, J. G., 270.

London and Edinburgh, railway between, 125.

Low, Professor, 7.

M’Adam, J. L., 66, 67, 70.

Mackenzie, Murdoch, 138 _et seq._

Manby’s apparatus, 261, 262.

Marine Surveying, 196;
measurement of base line for Bell Rock, 196;
fixing site of Kinnairdhead light, 196;
appeal for Admiralty Survey, 199;
history of Admiralty Survey, 201.

Marjoribanks, Sir J., 89, 95.

Marykirk Bridge, 69, 160, 239.

Melville, Lord, 126, 168.

---- Monument, Edinburgh, 238.

Mersey, River: Reports on harbour and dock at Wallasey and the Dee,
with connecting ship canal, 132-150;
wasting effects of the sea at, 225.

Montrose Bridge, 159, 240.

---- church spire, 238.

Mortar, hydraulic, 240.

Moveable jib crane, 181, 182.

Mowat, Mr., of Gardie, 190.

Mullaghmore Harbour, 245.

Neill, P., LL.D., 3, 7, 270.

Netherlands, King of, 58.

Newcastle, design for high level road bridge at, 161.

New York Suspension Bridge, 167.

Niagara Suspension Bridge, 167.

Night signal lamps, 247.

Nimmo, Alexander, C.E., 132, 135, 225, 265.

North Berwick Harbour, 250.

Northern Lighthouse Board, origin of, 4;
Mr. Smith appointed Engineer, 4;
first light exhibited by, 5;
Mr. Stevenson appointed Engineer, 7;
annual inspections and reports on the lighthouses, 7;
send Mr. Stevenson on a visit to the English lights, 7;
Bell Rock Lighthouse, 12;
improvements in lighthouse illumination adopted by, 49;
lighthouses designed by Mr. Stevenson, 56;
Minute on the death of Mr. Stevenson, 273.

Ordnance Survey, 202.

Orkney and Shetland Ferries, 108.

---- Fisheries, 185, 189, 195.

Palmerston, Lord, 245.

Pentland Skerries Lighthouse, 6.

Peterhead Harbour, 130.

_Pinus maritima major_, for checking sand drift, 245.

Playfair, Mr., architect, 76.

Playfair, Professor, 7, 15, 16, 96, 100, 252, 267.

Population, prospective increase of, 250.

Portpatrick Harbour, 130, 247, 248.

Price, H., C.E., 131.

Primrose, Hon. B. F., 195.

Queensferry passage, signal lamps for, 247.

Rae, Sir William, 77, 91, 114, 174, 238, 258, 259.

Rails, cast and malleable iron, 122, 123, 128.

Railways on one level, 112;
haulage on, 112;
lines of railway in Scotland laid out by Mr. Stevenson, 112;
Report on Edinburgh Railway, 114;
cast iron and malleable iron rails, 122, 123, 128;
locomotive, 124;
Reports on various railway lines, 124, 125;
uniform gauge, etc., proposed for, 126;
notes on railways for the Highland and Agricultural Society, 127;
description of permanent way of, 128;
letter from George Stephenson, 128;
article on, 203;
signal lamps, 247.

Reflectors. _See_ Lighthouse Illumination.

Rendel, J. M., 151.

Rennie, George, 265.

Rennie, John, 18, 20, 21, 22, 265.

Ribble, River, 130.

Ritchie, Professor, 7.

Rivers, Mr. Stevenson’s Reports on, 130;
value of backwater, 131;
Tees navigation, 131;
Reports by Telford, Stevenson, and Nimmo, on harbours and wet docks
at Birkenhead and at the Dee with connecting ship canal, 132;
improvement of the Tay navigation, 151;
experiments on the density of fresh and salt water, 229.

Roads:--Early roads and road making, 64;
Edgeworth and M’Adam’s systems of road making, 66;
Mr. Stevenson’s system of road making, 67-70;
cast iron tracks, 68;
stone tracks as a smooth and durable city road, 71;
article on, 203.

Robison, Professor, 3, 7, 15.

Rosebery, Lord, 241.

Salt water, density of, in estuaries and rivers, 229.

Sand drift, checking of, by “bent” grass and planting _Pinus maritima
major_, 245.

Scotch Lighthouse Board. _See_ Northern Lighthouse Board.

Scott, Sir Walter, 25, 47, 94, 238, 270.

Sectio planography, 205.

Severn, River, 130.

Shetland Ferries. _See_ Ferries.

Shetland Fisheries, 185;
origin of herring fishery, 189.

Ships, build of, 249.

Shipwrecks, notes on, 260.

Signal lamps, 247.

Sinclair, Sir John, 125.

Skerryvore Lighthouse, 271, 272.

Smeaton, John, 21, 23, 24, 206, 236.

Smith, Captain of the ‘Orestes,’ 168 _et seq._

Smith, Thomas: improvements in lighthouse illumination, 3, 4, 49;
Engineer to the Scotch Lighthouse Board, 4;
Cumbrae Lighthouse, 5;
Pentland Skerries Lighthouse, 6.

Smyth, Professor Piazzi, 265.

Southey’s “Inchcape Rock,” 274.

Spink, J., Bell Rock pilot, 30.

St. Andrews Cathedral, 238.

St. Magnus Cathedral, 238.

Steamboats, 107;
regulations for, 258;
lights for, 259.

Stephenson, George, 121, 124, 128.

---- Robert, 161.

Stevenson, Alan, 151, 271.

Stevenson, Robert:--birth, 1;
superintends erection of Cumbrae Light, 2, 5;
resolves to be a Civil Engineer, 5;
student at Andersonian Institution, Glasgow, and University of
Edinburgh, 5-7;
superintends Pentland Skerries Lighthouse works, 6;
appointed Engineer to the Northern Lighthouse Board, 7;
annual inspections and Reports on the Scotch Lighthouses, 7;
inspection of and report on English lights, 10;
is taken for a French spy, 10;
Journals, 12;
Reports, 12.

Design for the Bell Rock Lighthouse, personal superintendence of
the work during its execution, and incidents connected
therewith, 13-47;
“Account” of, 14.

Lighthouse illumination, improvements in, 49;
sliding lamp carriage, 51;
lighthouses in Scotland designed by, 56;
invents distinctions for lighthouses, viz., flashing,
intermittent, and double lights, 57;
design for floating light lantern, 59;
Report on dioptric system of illumination, 62.

System of road making, 67-70;
cast iron tracks for roads, 68;
stone tracks, 71.

Improvement of Edinburgh:--design for approaches from the east by
Regent and London Roads, and opening up access to Calton
Hill, 74;
Report on sites for new Jail and Court of Justiciary and buildings
in Waterloo Place, 77;
building plan for eastern district of Edinburgh, 90;
improvement of accesses from the north and west and from
Granton, 90;
visit to the jails of England, 91;
Old Tolbooth Prison, 91;
Report on removal of University buildings, 95.

Ferries:--Reports on, illustrated by those of the Tay, 102;
Reports on various ferries, 108.

Report on canals on one level without lockage, 111;
Reports on railways, 112;
uniform gauge, etc., proposed for railways, 126;
notes on railways for the Highland and Agricultural Society, 127;
description of permanent way, 128.

Harbours and Rivers:--Reports on, 130;
Tees navigation, 131;
Reports on harbour and wet docks at Birkenhead, and harbour at
Helbre on the Dee with connecting ship canal, 132-150;
Tay river improvements, 151.

Preservation of timber:--experiments on, 154;
preservation of iron, 159.

Bridges:--designs for Marykirk, Annan, Stirling, and Hutcheson
stone bridges, 160;
design for high level road bridge at Newcastle, 161;
bridge of built planks, 161;
new form of suspension bridge, 162, 165.

Design for Wolf Rock Lighthouse, 168.

Design for Carr Rock Beacon, 177;
proposal to use the tide for tolling a bell or sounding a
whistle, 178.

Invents the moveable jib and balance cranes, 181.

Fisheries:--notes on the Scotch, 184;
origin of the Shetland herring fishery, 189;
suggestion for using the sympiesometer as a storm warning, 91;
experiments on air sacs of fishes, 194.

Marine survey, 196;
measurement of _base line_, 196;
mode of ascertaining positions of lighthouses, 196;
appeal for Admiralty Survey and Sailing Directions, 199.

Contributions to _Encyclopædia Britannica_ and _Edinburgh
Encyclopædia_, 203;
alveus or bed of the German Ocean, 204, 205;
sectio planography, 205;
wasting effects of the sea on the estuaries of the Mersey
and Dee, 225;
discovery that the salt water flows up the beds of rivers in a
stream distinct from the outflowing fresh water, 229;
invents the hydrophore, 231.

Wide range of subjects on which Mr. Stevenson gave advice, 236;
architectural reports, 236;
extracts from early Reports, 239.

Retrospect of life, 264.

Stewart, Professor Dugald, 7, 97.

Stirling Bridge, 160.

Stockton and Darlington Railway, 125.

Stonehaven Harbour, 130.

Stone tracks. _See_ Roads.

Strathmore Canal, 111.

---- Railway, 124.

Suspension Bridges. _See_ Bridges.

Sympiesometer, 191.

Tay Ferries, 102.

---- River, 130, 151, 251.

Tees, River, 130, 131.

Telford, Thomas, 18, 127, 132, 149, 265.

Thames, River, 234.

Thomas, Captain, Admiralty Survey, 140, 201.

Tidal scour, 251.

Timber:--experiments on durability of, 155;
ravages of the _Limnoria terebrans_ on, 157;
charring, 158;
creosoted 159.

Tour de Cordouan, 49, 63.

Trinity, cycloidal sea wall at, 242.

Walker, James, C.E., 73, 176, 265.

Water:--experiments on the density of fresh and salt water at the
Dee, 229;
Thames, Loch Eil, etc., 235;
hydrophore for obtaining specimens of, 231.

Watt, James, 125, 126, 167.

Waves, action of, in unscrewing bolts, 252.

Wear, River, 130.

Wilson, Captain, 43.

Winch Chain Bridge, 163.

Wolf Rock Lighthouse:--design for, 168;
Journal of visit to, 168-175;
tower built in 1870, 175.

PRINTED BY T. AND A. CONSTABLE, PRINTERS TO HER MAJESTY,
AT THE EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY PRESS.

FOOTNOTES

[1] Mr. Randall assumed the name of Davidson after succeeding to the estate of Muirhouse.

[2] Account of the Bell Rock Lighthouse. Drawn up by desire of the Commissioners of the Northern Lighthouses, by Robert Stevenson. Edinburgh, 1824.

[3] 7th September 1807.

[4] The tender was named after the great Engineer.

[5] Spink’s boat was too large to come close to the rock.

[6] Report of the Royal Commission on Lighthouses, 1861, p. 86.

[7] _Translation also by Dr. Gregory_:--“In the reign of George the Third, the father of his country, in the second year of the Provostship of Sir John Marjoribanks, Baronet, of Lees,--The citizens of Edinburgh having made this new and magnificent access over the neighbouring hill to the capital city, according to the plan of Robert Stevenson, Civil Engineer, ordered the name of the _Regent_, George Augustus Frederick, to be inscribed on this bridge.”

[8] From which Fig. 14 has been made.

[9] The essays most favourably noticed are those of Mr. Alexander Scott, Mr. George Robertson, Mr. George Douglas, Mr. John Ruthven, Mr. James Dickson, Mr. James Walker (Carron), Mr. James Walker (Lauriston), Mr. John Fraser, Mr. John Wotherspoon, Mr. John Moore, and Mr. John Baird.

[10] Notice of the Ravages of _Limnoria terebrans_ on Creosoted Timber.--_Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh_, vol. iv. and vol. viii.

[11] Vol. ii. p. 129.

[12] Vol. ii. p. 196.

[13] A Sketch of the Institution and the progress of the Hydrographical Department of the Admiralty, from its first establishment in the year 1795.

[14] Vol. x. p. 57.

Transcriber’s Notes

Punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed.

Simple typographical errors were corrected.

Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained; occurrences of inconsistent hyphenation have not been changed.

Index not checked for proper alphabetization or correct page references.

Illustration facing page 77: credit line not entirely readable.

End of Project Gutenberg's Life of Robert Stevenson, by David Stevenson