July and
August are traditional vacation months, and in 1814, not long after "Waverley" was published, Walter Scott began his
summer trip to the northern lights with Robert Stevenson. Below is his diary entry for departure day,
July 29th, taken from John Gibson Lockhart’s “Memoirs of the life of
Sir Walter Scott”.
‘VACATION 1814
Voyage In The
Lighthouse Yacht To Nova
Zembla, And The Lord Knows Where.
July
29th,
1814 Sailed from Leith about one o'clock on board the
Lighthouse Yacht, conveying six guns, and ten men, commanded by Mr
Wilson. The company — Commissioners of the Northern Lights; Robert Hamilton, Sheriff of
Lanarkshire; William Erskine, Sheriff of Orkney and Zetland; Adam Duff, Sheriff
of Forfarshire. Non-commissioners—Ipse Ego; Mr David Marjoribanks, son to John
Marjoribanks, Provost of Edinburgh, a young gentleman; Rev. Mr Turnbull,
Minister of Tingwall, in the presbytery of
Shetland. But the official chief of the expedition is Mr Stevenson, the Surveyor-Viceroy
over the commissioners—a most gentlemanlike and
modest man, and well known by his scientific skill.
Reached the Isle of May in the evening;
went ashore, and saw the light—an old tower, and
much in the form of a border-keep, with a
beacon-grate on the top. It is to be abolished for
an oil revolving-light, the gratefire only being
ignited upon the leeward side when the wind is very high. Quaere—Might not the grate revolve? The isle had once a cell or two upon it. The vestiges of the chapel
are still visible. Mr Stevenson proposed demolishing the old
tower, and I recommended ruining it
a la picturesque—i. e. demolishing it partially. The island might be made a delightful residence for
seabathers.
On board again in the evening: watched the progress
of the ship round Fifeness, and the revolving motion of the now
distant Bell-Rock light until the wind grew rough, and the landsmen sick. To bed at eleven, and slept sound.’
