Poor fellows they must been blown over the cliffs or drowned trying to secure a crane or something like that.

If this nervousness does not leave Moore, he will require to be transferred, but I am reluctant to recommend this, as I would desire to have one man at least who knows the work of the Station.

As this had no effect, he fired a rocket, which also evoked no response, and a boat was lowered and sent ashore to the East landing with Joseph Moore, Assistant Keeper. Everything at the East landing place was in order and the ropes which had been coiled and stored there on the completion of the relief on 7 December were all in their places and the lighthouse buildings and everything at the Stations was in order. Captain Harvey was Master of the HESPERUS. Sea lashed to fury. The “McArthur crying” entry is also extraordinary.

Nothing appears touched at East landing to show that they were taken from there.

Later that day: “Storm still raging, wind steady. Another common theory holds that the men had argued, one had killed the other two and then commited suicide in remorse.

In December 1900 three lighthouse-keepers, Thomas Marshall, James Ducat and Donald McArthur, on the lonely outcrop of the Flannan Isles, approx 20 miles from the Outer Hebrides, western Scotland, disappeared without trace. When the accident occurred, Ducat was wearing sea boots and a waterproof, and Marshall sea boots and oilskins, and as Moore assures me that the men only wore those articles when going down to the landings, they must have intended, when they left the Station, either to go down to the landing or the proximity of it. “December 13. The lamp was crimmed, the oil fountains and canteens were filled up and the lens and machinery cleaned, which proved that the work of the 15th had been completed. Captain Garvie sent a telegram to the Northern Lighthouse Board, saying that “a dreadful accident” had happened at Flannan. I for the first time I have just read about this here which confirms the name James Ducat was recorded as senior keeper. Tearing at lighthouse.

It’s unlikely we’ll ever know the truth to that, but if the entries were faked, then WHY??

Whatever happened the Flannan Isle Mystery never fails to send a shiver up my spine. The islands were always viewed with … James Ducat irritable”.

The incident is perhaps best known from Wilfrid Wilson Gibson's poem Flannan Isle (1912). © Sarah Hapgood and sjhstrangetales.wordpress.com, 2011-2018.

A second collection of my short stories, [3] There wasn't any evidence to support this: the overturned chair didn't indicate a particularly violent struggle.

Do you believe the log entries are real?

It took 4 years, and building work was continually hampered by the difficulties of safely landing supplies on the island, and the tempestuousness of the wild Atlantic Ocean. From the December Return, I saw that the Tower itself was not seen, even with the assistance of a powerful telescope, between the 7th and the 29th December.

[3], The keepers had kept a journal, which reported severe storms on 12 December, though they reportedly had subsided by the time of the last entry on 15 December. We pay tribute to these keepers, who served the Northern Lighthouse Board so well over the years, and can only report what was recorded at that time.

An early song by prog rockers Genesis, "The Mystery of Flannan Isle Lighthouse". On the Thursday and Friday the men made a thorough search over and round the island and I went over the ground with them on Saturday. The official Northern Lighthouse Board investigation following the disaster found that the men had left their post to attempt to secure a box in bad weather or repair some other damage, and a wave had risen 110 ft (34 m) up the side of the rock and swept them off.

At that time, I took a note to consider the propriety of having a daily signal that all was well – signals under the present system being only exhibited when assistance of some kind is required. amberpadam The early 20th century was a time of considerable paranoia about German spies infiltrating the UK. August 2, 2013 at 7:48 pm. Keeper Thomas Marshall recorded as follows: “December 12. The mystery of Flannan Isle is the question of what happened to the three keepers of Flannan Isles Lighthouse in December 1900. He met with a ready response and two seamen, Lamont and Campbell, were selected with Mr MacDonald, the Buoymaster, who was on board, also offered his services, which were accepted and Moore, MacDonald and these two seamen were left in charge of the light while Captain Harvie returned to Breasclete and telegraphed an account of the disaster to the Secretary. I darted out and made for the landing. Perhaps the authorities felt that it was best to wait a few days, as the relief ship, the Hesperus, was due to sail out to the islands on the 20th December.

I did at first, but then Mike Dash contacted me to say they were an invention of the tabloid press at the time, which sounds all too plausible! Interesting article.

This page was last modified on 22 July 2020, at 23:01.

As well as a lighthouse, facilities included a cable-hauled railway and steam engine, used to bring supplies (principally fuel for the lamp) from ships up to the lighthouse. B-Road Incident and other stories is now available for Amazon's Moore reported the facts to the Master and later returned to the island, with three others – Mr MacDonald, the buoymaster who was on board the vessel at the time, and Seaman Lamont and Campbell, all three having volunteered to remain on the island with Moore to keep the light in operation. I First learned of this mystery at a funeral. This was an official log-book, the entries would ordinarily have been the bare bones of the daily running of the light.

The steamer’s horn was sounded several times, still no reply. When The Telegraph first reported the story in …

Donald McArthur has his wearing coat left behind him which shows, as far as I know, that he went out in shirt sleeves. Also available on other Amazon sites.

A comprehensive search was also made of the island itself. This idea has inspired a variety of science fiction (see below), but it's hard to tell if anyone takes it seriously. I’ll close with the words of Superintendent Muirhead, who, in his official report of 8 January 1901, said “I visited them as lately as 7th December and have the melancholy recollection that I was the last person to shake hands with them and bid them adieu”.

After a careful examination of the place, the railings, ropes etc and weighing all the evidence which I could secure, I am of opinion that the most likely explanation of the disappearance of the men is that they had all gone down on the afternoon of Saturday, 15 December to the proximity of the West landing, to secure the box with the mooring ropes, etc and that an unexpectedly large roller had come up on the Island, and a large body of water going up higher than where they were and coming down upon them had swept them away with resistless force.

Aside from the nice little Doctor Who episode they mad out of this, it is a charming mystery that in all likelihood will never be solved…just the way we like them.

It was on the 15th December 1900 that the last entries were noted by the Keepers at Flannan Isle Ligthhouse.

The obvious answer to the question why the logbook entries might have been faked is: To spice up a magazine account of the mystery.

This wasn't considered as requiring emergency action. Some of the ropes it appears, got washed out of it, they lie strewn on the rocks near the crane. The lighthouse first went into operation on 7 December 1899. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Sarah Hapgood and sjhstrangetales.wordpress.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. First published in 1912, Wilfrid Wilson Gibson’s ballad Flannan Isle turned a sad, half-forgotten news item into a timeless mystery. There was no welcoming committee from the three men, (who would normally have been outside to greet them), no provisions boxes had been put out to be re-stocked, and the flag wasn’t up on the flagstaff.

I knew the story at the time and it was an eerie experience walking along the wooden floored West facing corridor at the LF Txer Station, RAF Aird Uig. Endless speculations about their fate have been imaginative in the extreme. 7 | Christopher Sharrocks Donald McArthur, Occasional Keeper – doing duty for William Ross, 1st Assistant, on sick leave. Ropes are all in their respective places in the shelter, just as they were left after the relief on the 7th.

Storm ended, sea calm.

In conclusion, I would desire to record my deep regret at such a disaster occurring to Keepers in this Service.

[4], More recently, UFOs and alien abduction have been blamed, inevitably.[3]. […]. He must have endured his fair share of violent storms over the years, so why did this one reduce him to a pulp?

28 December 1900.

The door and gate were shut; the lamp was filled but unlit; and there was no sign of any disaster.

I made for entrance door leading to the kitchen and store room, found it also closed and the door inside that, but the kitchen door itself was open. There have of course been much more dramatic explanations for the mystery, such as sea monsters and aliens. The men search the lighthouse and find nothing. Mr J. Moore, The loss of the three Keepers from the Flannan Isles Lighthouse in 1900 is a significant and very sad part of our history. September 23, 2015 at 3:11 pm. It was on the evening of the 15th that it was observed that the light hadn’t been lit. The crew of a passing ship, the Fairwind, were angry and disturbed that no guiding light from the newly-built Flannan Isles lighthouse appeared to be in operation. The iron railings round the crane platform and from the terminus of the tramway to the concrete steps up from the West landing were displaced and twisted. On the conclusion of my enquiry on Saturday afternoon, I returned to Breasclete, wired the result of my investigations to the Secretary and called on the widows of James Ducat, the Principal Keeper and Donald McArthur, the Occasional Keeper.

The crane itself is safe. I will remain at the telegraph office tonight until it closes, if you wish to wire me.

I suppose a part of me still wants to believe they were, as it all adds to the mystery.

The three Keepers, Ducat, Marshall and the occasional have disappeared from the island. I knew Ducat and Marshall intimately, and McArthur the Occasional, well.

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