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Records of a Family of Engineers-Part16_ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON(1850-1894)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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reached the floating light, where some new difficulties

occurred in getting on board in safety, owing partly to the



exhausted state of the men, and partly to the violent rolling

of the vessel.



As the tide flowed, it was expected that the SMEATON

would have got to windward; but, seeing that all was safe,



after tacking for several hours and making little progress,

she bore away for Arbroath, with the praam-boat. As there was



now too much wind for the pilot-boat to return to Arbroath,

she was made fast astern of the floating light, and the crew



remained on board till next day, when the weather moderated.

There can be very little doubt that the appearance of James



Spink with his boat on this critical occasion was the means of

preventing the loss of lives at the rock this morning. When



these circumstances, some years afterwards, came to the

knowledge of the Board, a small pension was ordered to our



faithful pilot, then in his seventieth year; and he still

continues to wear the uniform clothes and badge of the



Lighthouse service. Spink is a remarkably strong man, whose

TOUT ENSEMBLE is highly characteristic of a North-country



fisherman. He usually dresses in a PE-JACKET, cut after a

particular fashion, and wears a large, flat, blue bonnet. A



striking likeness of Spink in his pilot-dress, with the badge

or insignia on his left arm which is characteristic of the



boatmen in the service of the Northern Lights, has been taken

by Howe, and is in the writer's possession.



[Thursday, 3rd Sept.]

The bell rung this morning at five o'clock, but the



writer must acknowledge, from the circumstances of yesterday,

that its sound was extremelyunwelcome. This appears also to



have been the feelings of the artificers, for when they came

to be mustered, out of twenty-six, only eight, besides the



foreman and seamen, appeared upon deck to accompany the writer

to the rock. Such are the baneful effects of anything like



misfortune or accident connected with a work of this

description. The use of argument to persuade the men to



embark in cases of this kind would have been out of place, as

it is not only discomfort, or even the risk of the loss of a



limb, but life itself that becomes the question. The boats,

notwithstanding the thinness of our ranks, left the vessel at



half-past five. The rough weather of yesterday having proved

but a summer's gale, the wind came to-day in gentle breezes;



yet, the atmosphere being cloudy, it a not a very favourable

appearance. The boats reached the rock at six a.m., and the



eight artificers who landed were employed in clearing out the

bat-holes for the beacon-house, and had a very prosperous tide



of four hours' work, being the longest yet experienced by half

an hour.



The boats left the rock again at ten o'clock, and the

weather having cleared up as we drew near the vessel, the



eighteen artificers who had remained on board were observed

upon deck, but as the boats approached they sought their way



below, being quite ashamed of their conduct. This was the

only instance of refusal to go to the rock which occurred



during the whole progress of the work, excepting that of the

four men who declined working upon Sunday, a case which the



writer did not conceive to be at all analogous to the present.

It may here be mentioned, much to the credit of these four



men, that they stood foremost in embarking for the rock this

morning.



[Saturday, 5th Sept.]

It was fortunate that a landing was not attempted this



evening, for at eight o'clock the wind shifted to E.S.E., and

at ten it had become a hard gale, when fifty fathoms of the



floating light's hempen cable were veered out. The gale still

increasing, the ship rolled and laboured excessively, and at



midnight eighty fathoms of cable were veered out; while the

sea continued to strike the vessel with a degree of force



which had not before been experienced.

[Sunday, 6th Sept.]



During the last night there was little rest on board of

the PHAROS, and daylight, though anxiously wished for, brought



no relief, as the gale continued with unabated violence. The

sea struck so hard upon the vessel's bows that it rose in



great quantities, or in `green seas,' as the sailors termed




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