Andrew.
What did happen to the three light house keeper.
I was just reading a bit about it [with my very sore eyes] sounds a bit spooky.
Anne
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Andrew MacLean
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they had taken on supplies and had carried them back to the lighthouse from the landing place. Their tea was cooking and nearly ready so they decided to eat before they went back to the landing place to stow their rope etc.
A bit of a squawl got up and because the commissioners of the northern lighthouse board had sent out a general order saying that too much rope was being lost, they would start charging men for the loss of further rope. (In fairness it was sometimes the case that rope that was 'lost' had been 'redeployed')
They set off down to the landing place, one in full oilskins and the others not. when they arrived there they started to coil the rope but a freak wave swept all three of them out to sea. The one in oilskins would be most at risk as treading water in oilskins is not easy. but in the cold water it would not be long before the fittest of them succumed to hypothermia and lost consciousness.
When the relief party arrived they found the meals set out in the men's places and most of the oilskins still hanging in their place. The NLB did not want it to seem that three lives were lost for the sake of a couple of pounds worth of hemp rope, so the story of the mystery was encouragd to divert attention from their policy and its implications.
A bit of a squawl got up and because the commissioners of the northern lighthouse board had sent out a general order saying that too much rope was being lost, they would start charging men for the loss of further rope. (In fairness it was sometimes the case that rope that was 'lost' had been 'redeployed')
They set off down to the landing place, one in full oilskins and the others not. when they arrived there they started to coil the rope but a freak wave swept all three of them out to sea. The one in oilskins would be most at risk as treading water in oilskins is not easy. but in the cold water it would not be long before the fittest of them succumed to hypothermia and lost consciousness.
When the relief party arrived they found the meals set out in the men's places and most of the oilskins still hanging in their place. The NLB did not want it to seem that three lives were lost for the sake of a couple of pounds worth of hemp rope, so the story of the mystery was encouragd to divert attention from their policy and its implications.
Andrew MacLean
I found this section on-line about the story as I do remember the story being a bit more spooky!
Was there more foul play then meets the eye? I thought you may know more about this Andrew.
...the daily log contained enigmatic entries. These entries mentioned that there had been bad weather during the period, but contained information pertaining to the keepers' mental states, which was not standard information recorded in the log, and suggested that the keepers' were in an abnormal state of agitation. It was also recorded that the keepers were feeling something was wrong and they were not alone in the lighthouse. They thought that whatever it was, it was evil and that was the final entry.
Was there more foul play then meets the eye? I thought you may know more about this Andrew.
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Andrew MacLean
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I think that the legend grew and grew. the lighthouse daily log is just a note of times of establishing and extinguisning the navigation light, sounding the fog signal etc. Sometimes it might be eloaborated to note what the lightkeepers ate at various meal times. If the Principal Keeper was particularly verbose he might record sightings of things like whale or dolphion (common enough in those waters).
I'd take with a large pinch of salt any part of the legend that suggests that there was a sense of 'not being alone'. In fact I have never believed any of those stories.
I spend two of my summers as a student working as a lighthouse keeper (I was a student for over 9 years so there were lots and lots of summer holidays). Two of us on different stations did a deal of research into the Flannan Islands story and we failed to substantiate any stories about irregular entries of the sort often described in the station log.
As I say, all the evidence I could substantiate pointed to the need to salvage the rope as the most credible cause of the disaster.
Andrew
I'd take with a large pinch of salt any part of the legend that suggests that there was a sense of 'not being alone'. In fact I have never believed any of those stories.
I spend two of my summers as a student working as a lighthouse keeper (I was a student for over 9 years so there were lots and lots of summer holidays). Two of us on different stations did a deal of research into the Flannan Islands story and we failed to substantiate any stories about irregular entries of the sort often described in the station log.
As I say, all the evidence I could substantiate pointed to the need to salvage the rope as the most credible cause of the disaster.
Andrew
Andrew MacLean
I think Andrew what you say is right makes sense, it sounds like one of those made up puzzels but it really did happened with the different versions going around about the story. And when you read the detail you can feel the erryness of what it must have been like for the first people to go to the light house to find out what had happened!
Here is an article on the story:
"The strange disappearance of the Flannan lighthousemen DIANE MACLEAN
All three keepers of Flannan lighthouse disappeared Its clock had stopped, the fires were unlit and the beds made 'Freak wave' blamed but exotic theories became popular ON BOXING Day, 1900, the Hesperus arrived at the Flannan Isles, 18 miles off the west coast of Lewis. She had battled the Atlantic Ocean for days in order to bring relief to the lighthouse-keepers on the isolated island. As she neared the ship’s whistle blew as a signal to the three men.
No response.
They set off the siren.
Nothing.
As they lowered a rowing boat and prepared a landing party they fired a rocket high into the cold sky. Nobody came to the quay to welcome the boat.
The Flannan lighthouse stands on Eilean Mor, one of the Flannan Isles. The island group was known as the Seven Hunters, a tribute to its fearsome reputation for claiming ships. In 1899 a lighthouse had been built to warn ships off the rocks but as the rowing boat approached, the light was out.
Joseph Moore, Assistant Keeper, was first out of the rowing boat. He found the gate and the outside doors of the lighthouse closed. Inside, the clock had stopped, the fires were unlit and the men’s beds made. The three keepers - James Ducat, Thomas Marshall and Donald McArthur - were missing Alarmed, Moore ran to the shore and rowed back out to the Hesperus. Captain Harvey, the master of the Hesperus, then decided that Moore had to remain at the lighthouse while he returned to the mainland for help.
On 29 December, the ship returned bringing Superintendent Robert Muirhead, who ordered a rigorous search. He found the lighthouse lamp trimmed and filled with oil. The machinery was clean and the pots and pans washed up. The lighthouse log was written up until the 13 December, but notes for the 14th and 15th had been made on a slate awaiting entry.
Word had reached Muirhead from a ship’s captain that the Flannan lighthouse was dark on December 15th at midnight.
Superintendent Muirhead concluded that some great tragedy had befallen the men on the day of the 15th. His report notes that a great storm had taken place on that day. He wrote that the jetty was "warped" and the railings "displaced and twisted". He rejected Captain Harvey’s conclusion that a strong wind blew the men off the cliff and instead decided that they had been washed away by a freak wave.
History might have recorded the events on the Flannan Isles as simply the wild Atlantic Ocean claiming the lives of three more men. But a poem by Wilfrid Wilson Gibson succeeded in making a mystery out of what was undoubtedly a tragedy. Flannan Isle described the accident in terms of such foreboding that many concluded an altogether more complex conclusion was possible.
People wanting a mystery did not have to look very far for their proof. Superintendent Muirhead’s words on the state of the "twisted" railings were deemed to indicate some diabolical presence. There were oddities in the story such as the discovery of a set of oilskins, which indicated that one of the men went out of the lighthouse in a storm without protective clothing. Finally, any "natural" explanation for the disaster ran contrary to the rigid lighthouse-keeping rule that insisted one man stay in the lighthouse to guard the lamp, come what may.
Incredible theories sprang up: one of the men went insane and killed his colleagues before throwing himself off the island; a sea-monster dragged the keepers to a watery grave; and finally, a much later theory claimed that the men were abducted by aliens.
Of course, the mystery of the Flannan Islands is no mystery at all, but a story of three men who lost their lives trying to save others. It is ironic that the very poem that sought to question the manner of their death will ensure that they will live on forever - albeit with a mysterious question mark over them."
Here is an article on the story:
"The strange disappearance of the Flannan lighthousemen DIANE MACLEAN
All three keepers of Flannan lighthouse disappeared Its clock had stopped, the fires were unlit and the beds made 'Freak wave' blamed but exotic theories became popular ON BOXING Day, 1900, the Hesperus arrived at the Flannan Isles, 18 miles off the west coast of Lewis. She had battled the Atlantic Ocean for days in order to bring relief to the lighthouse-keepers on the isolated island. As she neared the ship’s whistle blew as a signal to the three men.
No response.
They set off the siren.
Nothing.
As they lowered a rowing boat and prepared a landing party they fired a rocket high into the cold sky. Nobody came to the quay to welcome the boat.
The Flannan lighthouse stands on Eilean Mor, one of the Flannan Isles. The island group was known as the Seven Hunters, a tribute to its fearsome reputation for claiming ships. In 1899 a lighthouse had been built to warn ships off the rocks but as the rowing boat approached, the light was out.
Joseph Moore, Assistant Keeper, was first out of the rowing boat. He found the gate and the outside doors of the lighthouse closed. Inside, the clock had stopped, the fires were unlit and the men’s beds made. The three keepers - James Ducat, Thomas Marshall and Donald McArthur - were missing Alarmed, Moore ran to the shore and rowed back out to the Hesperus. Captain Harvey, the master of the Hesperus, then decided that Moore had to remain at the lighthouse while he returned to the mainland for help.
On 29 December, the ship returned bringing Superintendent Robert Muirhead, who ordered a rigorous search. He found the lighthouse lamp trimmed and filled with oil. The machinery was clean and the pots and pans washed up. The lighthouse log was written up until the 13 December, but notes for the 14th and 15th had been made on a slate awaiting entry.
Word had reached Muirhead from a ship’s captain that the Flannan lighthouse was dark on December 15th at midnight.
Superintendent Muirhead concluded that some great tragedy had befallen the men on the day of the 15th. His report notes that a great storm had taken place on that day. He wrote that the jetty was "warped" and the railings "displaced and twisted". He rejected Captain Harvey’s conclusion that a strong wind blew the men off the cliff and instead decided that they had been washed away by a freak wave.
History might have recorded the events on the Flannan Isles as simply the wild Atlantic Ocean claiming the lives of three more men. But a poem by Wilfrid Wilson Gibson succeeded in making a mystery out of what was undoubtedly a tragedy. Flannan Isle described the accident in terms of such foreboding that many concluded an altogether more complex conclusion was possible.
People wanting a mystery did not have to look very far for their proof. Superintendent Muirhead’s words on the state of the "twisted" railings were deemed to indicate some diabolical presence. There were oddities in the story such as the discovery of a set of oilskins, which indicated that one of the men went out of the lighthouse in a storm without protective clothing. Finally, any "natural" explanation for the disaster ran contrary to the rigid lighthouse-keeping rule that insisted one man stay in the lighthouse to guard the lamp, come what may.
Incredible theories sprang up: one of the men went insane and killed his colleagues before throwing himself off the island; a sea-monster dragged the keepers to a watery grave; and finally, a much later theory claimed that the men were abducted by aliens.
Of course, the mystery of the Flannan Islands is no mystery at all, but a story of three men who lost their lives trying to save others. It is ironic that the very poem that sought to question the manner of their death will ensure that they will live on forever - albeit with a mysterious question mark over them."
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Andrew MacLean
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