about seven in the morning
The raising of the derrick was the signal for three hearty cheers , for this was a new era in the operations . Even that single spar , could it be preserved , would have been sufficient to have saved the workmen on that day when the Smeaton broke adrift and left them in such peril . This was all , however , that could be accomplished that tide . Next day , the great beams , each fifty feet long , and about sixteen inches square , were towed to the rock about seven in the morning , and the work immediately commenced , although they had gone there so much too early in the tide that the men had to work a considerable time up to their middle in water . Each beam was raised by the tackle affixed to the derrick , until the end of it could be placed or `` stepped '' into the hole which had been previously prepared for its reception ; then two of the great iron stanchions or supports were set into their respective holes on each side of the beam , and a rope passed round them to keep it from slipping , until it could be more permanently fixed . This having been accomplished , the first beam became the means of raising the second , and when the first and second were fastened at the top , they formed a pair of shears by which the rest were more easily raised to their places . The heads of the beams were then fitted together and secured with ropes in a temporary manner , until the falling of the tide would permit the operations to be resumed .