" The next day, Tuesday the 14th, the second course (see Platen'. Figure 2,) arrived ; and some of it was imme diately landed, proceeded with, and in part set the same tide : the loose pieces being chained together by strong chains, made on purpose for this use, and those ultimately to the stan cheons, or to lewises in the holes of the work Course 1. that had already been fixed. The sea was uncommonly smooth when we got upon the rock, this evening's tide, but while we were proceeding with our work, within the space of an hour and a half, the wind sprung up at north-east, and blew so fresh, that the Weston, lying to deliver the remainder of her cargo, had some difficulty in getting out of the gut; and, had it not been for the transport buoy, to which she had a fasten ing by a rope, it would probably have proved impracticable to have got her out again. And we soon saw it was necessary to get everything in the best posture time and circumstances would admit, in order to quit the rock with safety to our selves, and security to what we must necessarily leave behind us.
" The pieces that were fixed and trenailed down, were supposed to be proof against whatever might happen ; but the loose pieces, and those that were simply lowered down into their dovetail recesses, were considered as needing some additional security, to prevent their being carried away by the violence of the sea. Of the thirteen pieces of which Course 11. consisted, five only were landed : No. 1 was completely set ; No. 2 and 3 were lowered into their places, and secured by chains; and No. 4 and 5, which lay at the top of the rock, were chained together, and also to the slide ladder, which was very strongly lashed down to the eye-bolts, purposely fixed on the rock for that intent.
" in the evening (of .1 une 15,) we made a short tide upon the rock, and had the satisfaction to find that no material damage had happened to anything ; we therefore proceeded with our work, and completely fixed No. 2 of Course 11. On the morning of Friday the 17th we again landed for a short time ; and, noth•ithstanding we did not meet with any thing amiss on our return to the rock on Wednesday even ing, after the hard gale of wind, yet this morning we found a of the rock in the border of our work, that secured a corner of No. 3, was gone : we therefore, to secure that stone to its neighbour, applied an iron cramp, of which we had some in readiness in ease of accident. We were prevented landing in the evening, by a fresh wind and rain at north west, but landed again on Saturday morning's tide, the 18th. Ilowever, we had not been long there before a great swell arose from the south-west ; and though there had been no wind apparently to occasion it, yet it came upon us so fast, that we were obliged to quit the rock before we could get our work into so satisfactory a posture of defence as 1 wished. It was, however, as follows: No. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, were completely fixed as intended ; No. 6 and 7, were fitted, and
lowered upon their mortar-beds ; No. 8, was simply got into its place, with a weight of lead of five hundred weight upon it ; which, in all such trials as had hitherto been made thereof, had lain quietly. Not having time to get the stone, No. 9, into its place, we chained it upon the top of the rock to the slide-ladder, as we had done before on Tuesday. In this condition we left the rock, having staid till we were all wet from head to foot.
"The storm continued till Tuesday morning : about noon of that day," says Mr. Smeaton, " the wind and sea having become still more moderate, I judged it practicable to row ahead against it, so as to get to the westward of the rock, and reconnoitre our damages : accordingly, taking four oars in the light yawl, it being then near low water, I observed, when the sea fell away from the rocks, (every sea then breaking bodily over it,) that No. 9, and the slide-ladder to which it was chained, were both gone ; that the two pieces of moor-stone, No. 5 and 6, which had only been let down upon their mortar-beds, without farther fastening, were also gone ; that No. 3 had broke its cramp, and was gone ; and that the five hundred weight of lead, that had been laid upon the most projecting part of the piece, No. 8, had, by the force of the sea acting edgewise upon it, been driven to the east ward, till it was stopped by the rise of the third step, against which it seemed abutted ; so that having thereby quitted the piece, No. 8, upon which it was laid, that was gone also : we therefore, as it appeared, had lost five pieces of stone ; the loss of which was, in the first instance, alleviated by finding that the first course appeared so thoroughly united with the rock, that its surface began to look black, with dark coloured moss fixing upon it, and giving it the same hue as the rock itself: also, that our shears and windlass were all standing, without the least derangement.
" 1 did not wait for the subsiding of the winds and seas, so as to enable us to land, and look out whether or no we could recover any of the lost pieces ; I immediately made for Plymouth in the light yawl, and landed at Mill Bay, at five o'clock on Tuesday evening, the 21st; and, having collected the moulds of the stones we had lost, and chosen proper spare blocks, I set a couple of men to work upon each piece of stone, day and night, till finished. This disaster, though it furnished a few reflections, yet they were not of the unpleasant kind ; for, as every part of the stonework that was completed according to its original intention, appeared to have remained fixed, it demonstrated the practicability of the method chosen ; and at the same time sheaved the preference of wedging to cramping, as the cramp had failed : and also the utility of trenails, as a security till the mortar was become hard.