post-mortem examination of his body then took place, and Hall's story was found to be true; for in the stomach lay a flat, oval piece of lead, seven ounces and five drachms in weight!

Acting on the old maxim of "Try, try, and try again," the Trinity House Corporation determined to erect another light-tower on the Eddystone, and intrusted the work to a mathematical instrument maker, named John Smeaton, who had already acquired a reputation as an ingenious mechanician.

Smeaton at this time was thirty-two years of age. As we shall tell the story of his brave and industrious life hereafter, it will suffice us now to state that he had shown himself, in a variety of experiences, skilful, prompt, patient, and indefatigable; never baffled by a difficulty, fertile in resource, and incapable of faltering in any enterprise he had deliberately undertaken.

On examining into the conditions of the task which had devolved upon him, he came to the conclusion that the structures of his predecessors had both been deficient in weight; and that if Rudyerd's had not been destroyed by fire, it would not much longer have resisted the fury of the

DESIGN OF HIS LIGHTHOUSE.

31

tempest.

He announced his intention, therefore,

More

of raising a fabric of such solidity that the sea should give way to it, and not it to the sea; and he determined to build it entirely of stone. over, Winstanley and Rudyerd had wasted much valuable time, from the difficulty of landing on the rock, and the impossibility of working on it continuously for any length of time. But Smeaton proposed to moor a vessel within a quarter of a mile of the scene of action, which should accommodate his company of workmen; and thus they would be prepared to seize every opportunity of launching their boat, and carrying their materials to the rock, instead of making a long voyage from Plymouth on each occasion.

So far as concerned the design of his intended erection, he was ready to adopt Rudyerd's idea of a cone, but he proposed to enlarge its diameter considerably; and the type he kept constantly before his eye was the trunk of an oak tree, which is equally remarkable for gracefulness and strength, and withstands successfully the most furious gales, when other forest trees are bent or broken.

The autumn of 1756 was occupied in the transport of the granite and other materials to the rock, in their preparation, and in the excava

32

LAYING THE FOUNDATION.

tion of the steps or stages on which the foundation was to be laid.

Early in June 1757 the work of erection began. The first stone, weighing two tons five hundredweight, was laid on the 12th. On the next day was finished the first course, consisting of four stones, so ingeniously dove-tailed into one another and into the rock as to form a single compact mass. The sloping form of the rock, to which the foundation was, of course, adapted, required only this small number of stones for the first course; the diameter of the masonry gradually increasing until the highest level surface was reached. Thus:

The second course, completed on the 30th of June, consisted of thirteen blocks of granite; the third course, completed on the 11th of July, of twenty-five; the fourth, on the 31st, of thirtythree. The sixth course was laid down by the 11th of August; and as it rose above the high

FIXING THE BLOCKS.

33

water mark, Smeaton was entitled to consider that he had conquered the greatest difficulties of his task.

Up to this point the mode of procedure in laying and fixing each great block of granite was as follows:

The stone to be set being hung in the tackle, and its bed of mortar spread, was then lowered into its place, beaten with a heavy wooden mall, and levelled with a spirit-level; and the stone being accurately brought to its marks, was considered as set in its proper position. The next thing was to keep it there, notwithstanding the utmost violence of the sea might beat upon it before the mortar was thoroughly hard and dry. Therefore the carpenter dropped into a couple of vertical grooves, which had been previously cut in "the waist" of the stone, each an inch deep and three inches wide, two oaken wedges, one upon its head, the other with its point downwards, so that the two in each groove would lie heads and points.

and a

With an iron bar, about two inches

half broad, a quarter of an inch thick, and two feet and a half long, he then drove down one wedge upon the other-very gently at first, so that the opposite pairs of wedges,

34

PROGRESS OF THE WORK.

being equally tightened, would equally resist each other, and the stone would therefore keep its place. In like manner, a couple of wedges were pitched at the top of each groove; the dormant wedge (i.e., the one with the point upward) being held in the hand, while the drift wedge (ie., the one with the point downward) was driven with a hammer. So much as remained above the upper surface of the stone was cut away with saw or chisel; and, generally, a couple of thin wedges were driven very moderately at the butt-end of the stone, whose tendency being to force it out of its dove-tail, they would, by moderate driving, assist in preserving the steadiness of the entire mass, in opposition to any violent agitation arising from the sea.

The stone thus firmly secured, a certain portion of mortar was liquefied, and the joints having been carefully "pointed," this liquid cement was poured in with iron ladles, so as to occupy every vacant space. The heavier part of the cement naturally fell to the bottom, while the fluid was absorbed by the stone. The vacancy thus left at the top was repeatedly refilled, until all remained solid; then the top was pointed, and, where necessary, defended by a layer of plaster.