it was hoisted out of the hold and laid on the vessel's deck, when it
was handed over to the landing-master, whose duty it became to
transfer it, by means of a combination of ropes and blocks, to the
deck of the praam boat, and then deliver it at the rock.

As the sea was seldom calm during the building operations, and
frequently in a state of great agitation, lowering the stones on the
decks of the praam boats was a difficult matter.

In the act of working the apparatus, one man was placed at each of
the guy-tackles. This man assisted also at the purchase-tackles for
raising the stones; and one of the ablest and most active of the crew
was appointed to hold on the end of the fall-tackle, which often
required all his strength and his utmost agility in letting go, for
the purpose of lowering the stone at the instant the word "lower" was
given. In a rolling sea, much depended on the promptitude with which
this part of the operation was performed. For the purpose of securing
this, the man who held the tackle placed himself before the mast in a
sitting, more frequently in a lying posture, with his feet stretched
under the winch and abutting against the mast, as by this means he
was enabled to exert his greatest strength.

The signal being given in the hold that the tackle was hooked to the
stone and all ready, every man took his post, the stone was
carefully, we might almost say tenderly raised, and gradually got
into position over the praam boat; the right moment was intently
watched, and the word "lower" given sternly and sharply. The order
was obeyed with exact promptitude, and the stone rested on the deck
of the praam boat. Six blocks of granite having been thus placed on
the boat's deck, she was rowed to a buoy, and moored near the rock