Treryn Dinas

The public attention has, for the last six months, been much attracted to the celebrated Logan Stone, in Cornwall; not so much on account of its presenting a great natural curiosity, but from the circumstance that in April last, an officer of the British Navy on the Preventive Service, Lieutenant Goldsmith, with his men, threw it down from its time-honoured seat, and the same gentlemen having, within the last few days, replaced it in its former situation - a task of no ordinary difficulty.

[...] The following extract of a letter contains an account of the restoration of this celebrated relic of antiquity:--

"Penzance, Nov. 6.
"The Logan rock is replaced, and rocks as before: it was put up on Tuesday last, after three days' labour, by the help of three pair of large sheers, six capstans, worked by eight men each, and a variety of pulleys. Large chain cables were fastened round the rock, and attached to the blocks by which it was lifted. Altogether there were about sixty men employed. The weight of the rock has been variously computed by different persons, at from 70 to 90 tons. On the first day, when the rock was first swung in the air, in the presence of about two thousand persons, much anxiety was felt by those who were present, as to the success of the undertaking; the ropes were much stretched; the pulleys, the sheers, and the capstans, all screeched and groaned; and the noise of the machinery was audible at some distance. Many were very apprehensive lest so vast a weight might snap all the ropes, and tumble over the precipice, bearing the sheers and scaffolding away with it; however, the whole has gone off with great success.

The materials (which were all furnished gratis, from the dockyard at Plymouth) were excellent, and ingeniously managed; and though a rope or two broke, adn a link of one of the chains tore away a small piece of an angle of the rock, which was thrown with much velocity into the sea, yet the rock was safely supported by its complicated tackling and stands, once more, in precisely its former position!

Lieutenant Goldsmith, who threw it down, was the engineer in replacing it; and, in the opinion of many of the gentlemen of this town and neighbourhood, he has, by his skill and personal labour and attention, not only wiped away the disgrace to which he was exposed by throwing it down, but also acquired so much merit, that they are about to invite him to a public dinner at Pearce's Hotel. This seems to be going a little too far; since whatever credit he may have derived from replacing the rock, seems to be fully counterbalanced by the discredit of its wanton demolition. It is understood that the expenses of this work are defrayed by subscription. Fifty pounds have been given by the London Geological Society."