Inchcape or Bell Rock is an actual reef off the coast of Angus Scotland, notorious for being dangerous for near passing vessels. Only a small portion of the reef is above the water, the rest of the area is shallow. And treacherous.
The lengend of the Bellrock has to do with an attempt by the Abbot of Arbroath to install a warning bell to the rock, by having a buoy in the water ring a bell when the water would get too low.
A famous poem by Robert Southey called Inchcape Rock goes on about how a spiteful pirate cut the rope, and then only a year later finds himself crashed on the same rock in poetic justice.
The Bellrock Lighthouse by JMW Turner (1824)
http://www.bellrock.org.uk/lighthouse/lighthouse_1811_1823.htm
Here is the poem in its entirety:
Inchcape Rock
By Robert Southey
No stir in the air, no stir in the sea,
The Ship was still as she could be;
Her sails from heaven received no motion,
Her keel was steady in the ocean.
Without either sign or sound of their shock,
The waves flow’d over the Inchcape Rock;
So little they rose, so little they fell,
They did not move the Inchcape Bell.
The worthy Abbot of Aberbrothok
Had placed that bell on the Inchcape Rock;
On a buoy in the storm it floated and swung,
And over the waves its warning rung.
When the Rock was hid by the surge’s swell,
The Mariners heard the warning Bell;
And then they knew the perilous Rock,
And blest the Abbot of Aberbrothok
The Sun in the heaven was shining gay,
All things were joyful on that day;
The sea-birds scream’d as they wheel’d round,
And there was joyaunce in their sound.
The buoy of the Inchcpe Bell was seen
A darker speck on the ocean green;
Sir Ralph the Rover walk’d his deck,
And fix’d his eye on the darker speck.
He felt the cheering power of spring,
It made him whistle, it made him sing;
His heart was mirthful to excess,
But the Rover’s mirth was wickedness.
His eye was on the Inchcape Float;
Quoth he, “My men, put out the boat,
And row me to the Inchcape Rock,
And I’ll plague the Abbot of Aberbrothok.”
The boat is lower’d, the boatmen row,
And to the Inchcape Rock they go;
Sir Ralph bent over from the boat,
And he cut the bell from the Inchcape Float.
Down sank the Bell with a gurgling sound,
The bubbles rose and burst around;
Quoth Sir Ralph, “The next who comes to the Rock,
Won’t bless the Abbot of Aberbrothok.”
Sir Ralph the Rover sail’d away,
He scour’d the seas for many a day;
And now grown rich with plunder’d store,
He steers his course for Scotland’s shore.
So thick a haze o’erspreads the sky,
They cannot see the sun on high;
The wind hath blown a gale all day,
At evening it hath died away.
On the deck the Rover takes his stand,
So dark it is they see no land.
Quoth Sir Ralph, “It will be lighter soon,
For there is the dawn of the rising Moon.”
“Canst hear,” said one, “the breakers roar?
For methinks we should be near the shore.”
“Now, where we are I cannot tell,
But I wish we could hear the Inchcape Bell.”
They hear no sound, the swell is strong,
Though the wind hath fallen they drift along;
Till the vessel strikes with a shivering shock,
“Oh Christ! It is the Inchcape Rock!”
Sir Ralph the Rover tore his hair,
He curst himself in his despair;
The waves rush in on every side,
The ship is sinking beneath the tide.
But even is his dying fear,
One dreadful sound could the Rover hear;
A sound as if with the Inchcape Bell,
The Devil below was ringing his knell.
(http://www.bellrock.org.uk/misc/misc_poem.htm)
(http://www.bellrock.org.uk/misc/misc_poem.htm)
If Edward Fitzball was inspired by this popular poem, then he gave homage to it with the Pirate Hans Hattock's lines in Act 2 Scene 4,
"I hear the strokes of the accusing bell, knelling me to perdition. Mercy! Mercy!" and then the directions have him tear his hair.(Booth, pg 29)
This almost directly quotes the last phrase in Robert Southey's poem. I can imagine that the audience, familiar with the poem, would have made the connection instantly.
* In the actualization of the play, I would recommend using this poem and likewise the painting somewhere in the design, since all three tie together so completely.
Bellrock Lighthouse as it is today
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inchcape
References Used:
Booth, Michael R., Michael Cordner, Peter Holland, and Martin Wiggens, eds. The Lights O' London and Other Victorian Plays. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995. N. pag. Print.
Taylor, David. Bellrock.org.uk. N.p., 2000. www.google.com. Web. 9 Mar. 2011.http://www.bellrock.org.uk/misc/misc_poem.htm
Extended Resources:
*Taylor, David. Bellrock.org.uk. N.p., 2000. www.google.com. Web. 9 Mar. 2011. <http://www.bellrock.org.uk/>
*BBC News: Arbroath marks bicentenary of Bell Rock Lighthouse
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-12323928
* The area near the lighthouse (if being historically accurate for the play)
http://www.arbroath.com/
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