Voyage in the Lighthouse Yacht to Nova Zembla

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 29^th, 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.’

Iona

During the fall of 1773, James Boswell and Samuel Johnson were enjoying their tour of the Scottish Western Isles, having reached Iona.

'Wednesday, 20th October

Early in the morning we surveyed the remains of antiquity at this

place, accompanied by an illiterate fellow, as cicerone, who called

himself a descendant of a cousin of Saint Columba, the founder of the

religious establishment here. As I knew that many persons had already

examined them, and as I saw Dr Johnson inspecting and measuring

several of the ruins of which he has since given so full an account,

my mind was quiescent; and I resolved; to stroll among them at my

ease, to take no trouble to investigate minutely, and only receive the

general impression of solemn antiquity, and the particular ideas of

such objects as should of themselves strike my attention.

We walked from the monastery of nuns to the great church or cathedral,

as they call it, along an old broken causeway. They told us, that this

had been a street; and that there were good houses built on each side.

Dr Johnson doubted if it was any thing more than a paved road for the

nuns. The convent of monks, the great church, Oran's chapel, and four

other chapels, are still to be discerned. But I must own that

Icolmkill did not answer my expectations; for they were high, from

what I had read of it, and still more from what I had heard and

thought of it, from my earliest years. Dr Johnson said, it came up to

his expectations, because he had taken his impression from an account

of it subjoined to Sacheverel's History of the Isle of Man, where it

is said, there is not much to be seen here. We were both disappointed,

when we were shewn what are called the monuments of the kings of

Scotland, Ireland, and Denmark, and of a king of France. There are

only some grave-stones flat on the earth, and we could see no

inscriptions. How far short was this of marble monuments, like those

in Westminster Abbey, which I had imagined here! The grave-stones of

Sir Allan M'Lean's family, and of that of M'Quarrie, had as good an

appearance as the royal grave-stones; if they were royal, we doubted...'

Boswell and Johnson express mixed impressions about the isle, being somewhat disappointed overall. 

The entry above comes from Boswell’s “The Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson, LL.D”.

Sir Walter Scott also had mixed feelings about Iona, though for a different reason.  In “Northern Lights

or a Voyage in the Lighthouse Yacht to Nova Zembla and the Lord where in the summer of 1814”,

 Scott comments that “my eyes, familiarised with the wretchedness of Zetland (Shetland) and the

 Harris, are less shocked with that of Iona.”.  Scott was referring to how poor the inhabitants were, 

which was painful to witness.

Robert Stevenson

Lighthouse builder, friend of Sir Walter Scott, and grandfather of author Robert Louis Stevenson, Robert Stevenson was born on June 8, 1772.  Stevenson's three sons followed him in the engineering trade.  The trip to the Northern Lights that Scott took with Stevenson (published in Scott's journal "Northern Lights or a Voyage in the Lighthouse Yacht to Nova Zembla and the Lord where in the summer of 1814") has been covered in a previous post on Bell Rock Lighthouse, which was designed by yesterday's subject, John Rennie.

The Museum of Scottish Lighthouses has a page on its website discussing the trip that Stevenson and Scott took together in 1814.  This page mentions that Scott may be responsible for persuading Stevenson that an old castle at Kinnaird Head should be preserved (http://www.lighthousemuseum.org.uk/index.html).

Columcille Lands on Iona

On May 12, 563, on the eve of Pentecost, Columcille, or St. Columba as we know him now, arrived on the Island of Iona.  Columba had 12 companion monks with him.  The island had been granted to Columba and his monks, possibly by Columba's kinsman, King Conall of Dalraida.  Columba soon began his efforts to convert the local population.

Sir Walter Scott visited Iona in 1814, on his trip to visit the Northern Lights, which was published in "Northern Lights or a Voyage in the Lighthouse Yacht to Nova Zembla and the Lord where in the summer of 1814".  Scott commented “my eyes, familiarised with the wretchedness of Zetland (Shetland) and the Harris, are less shocked with that of Iona.”

Bell Rock Lighthouse

During the summer of 1814, Walter Scott took a trip around Scotland with the Commissioners of the Northern Lights, including Robert Stevenson, grandfather of Robert Louis Stevenson; the Surveyor-Viceroy.  Among the sites seen was Bell Rock Lighthouse (photo at right is by Don Carter), which lies about 12 miles off the coast of Angus, Scotland in the German Ocean; the North Sea.  Built between 1807 and 1810, it was first lit on February 1, 1811.

Scott kept a journal of the trip, published as "Northern Lights or a Voyage in the Lighthouse Yacht to Nova Zembla and the Lord where in the summer of 1814". The journal includes his description of seeing Bell Rock Lighthouse for the first time:

“Its dimensions are well known; but no description can give the idea of this slight, solitary, round tower, trembling amid the billows, and fifteen miles from Arbroath, the nearest shore. The fitting up within is not only handsome, but elegant. All work of wood (almost) is wainscot; all hammer-work brass; in short, exquisitely fitted up.”

On the morning that Scott saw Bell Rock Lighthouse, he was asked to sign the Visitor's Book.  In it, he left his "Pharos Loquitur":

'Far on the bosom of the deep,

0'er these wild shelves my watch I keep;
A ruddy gem of changeful light,
Bound on the dusky brow of Night;
The seaman bids my lustre hail,
And scorns to strike his tim'rous sail'