It was necessary to erect a tower one hundred and thirty feet high; "the
loftiest and weightiest work of its character that had ever been
contemplated up to this time....

"The Atlantic swell, which rendered landing on the ridge precarious and
hazardous, did not permit the men to be housed upon a floating home, as
had been the practice in the early days of the Bell Rock tower. In order
to permit the work to go forward as uninterruptedly as the sea would
allow, a peculiar barrack was erected. It was a house on stilts, the
legs being sunk firmly into the rock, with the living quarters perched
some fifty feet up in the air.

"Residence in this tower was eerie. The men climbed the ladder and
entered a small room, which served the purposes of kitchen, living-room,
and parlor....

"When a storm was raging, the waves, as they combed over the rock,
shook the legs violently and scurried under the floor in seething foam.
Now and again a roller, rising higher than its fellows, broke upon the
rock and sent a mass of water against the flooring to hammer at the
door. Above the living-room were the sleeping quarters, high and dry,
save when a shower of spray fell upon the roof and walls like heavy
hail.... The men, however, were not perturbed. Sleeping, even under such
conditions, was far preferable to doubtful rest in a bunk upon an
attendant vessel, rolling and pitching with the motion of the sea. They
had had a surfeit of such experience ... while the barrack was under
erection.

"For two years it withstood the seas without incident, and the engineer
and men came to regard the eyrie as safe as a house on shore. But one