Eilean Mor: The missing lighthouse keepers

on the 26th December 1900 a small ship approached the remote island of a land more it was a small eruption of land uninhabited aside from a small battery of three men whose job was to operate and maintain the Isles lighthouse the relief vessel Hesperus was to bring supplies and rotate a fourth member of the lighthouse team as the ship closed in on the barren or the site of the lighthouse on the edge of a sheer cliff sprung out from a bleak landscape Joseph more the member of the lighthouse crew who would be rotating in noted that curiously there was no flag flying on the flagpole nor were there any provision boxes placed outside for restocking the crew on the boat fired off several blasts of the horn splitting the quiet air as they waited for a sign or reply from the lighthouse an ominous feeling hit Joseph things it appeared were not quite right on a land more this is dark histories where the facts are worse than fiction Oh barely a quarter of a mile in width and just 43 acres in total the Isle of a land more is the largest of a chain of small crags of land that make up the Flannan Isles in Outer Hebrides around 60 miles from the coast of mainland Scotland is set in the remote and bitter wilderness of the North Atlantic sea which surrounds it on all sides the nearest port is in gallon head at a northern tip of the Isle of Lewis and Harris which makes up the largest island in the Outer Hebrides 40 miles to the south is the abandoned Isle of Kilda and in the West there is 2,000 miles of open water before the coastline of North America comes into view rising sharply from the water the southern end of a L'Amour is a steep series of cliffs that stand around 150 feet tall with a large slope extending to the northern tip of the Isle here the cliffs drop 200 feet straight down to the sea below completely uninhabited there are only three buildings the lighthouse built in 1899 the keepers living quarters in a small ramshackle ruined there was once a chapel named the blessing chapel it was dedicated to the Irish missionaries and Flannan who was among the last people to have been known to certainly occupy the Isle in the 7th century and from whom the Isles have taken their name in the near 1300 years since and preceding the building of the lighthouse is thought unlikely that anyone had occupied the Earl for any period of time falling under the authority of Luis their historical reports the inhabitants of Luis would undertake yearly pilgrimages during the sire months the purpose of rearing sheep and collecting eggs quills fowl and down these pilgrimages were known to take on something of a supernatural bent if the wind was has changed direction upon their setting sail to the islands they would immediately turn around and return home upon arriving the crews of the boats would remove their hats and make their way to the ruined Chapel stripped their upper clothing off and pray three times once on approach once as they made their way around the stone ruin and a third as they were beside it until they had done this ritual every morning no foraging could begin they also followed a code of conduct on how animals on the island were killed as well as being careful to utilize a traditional local dialect in place at their own these customers and rules were so strongly observed that any members of crew knew to the pilgrimage would be placed with a senior member who was to keep a close watch and act as an advisory at all times in 1695 Martin Martin wrote that they observed these customs to prevent inconveniences that they think may ensue upon the transgression of the least nicety observed here we're making inquiries to the men and women of Lewis on the sanctity of the Isles he was told there was none ever yet landed in them but found himself more disposed to devotion there than anywhere else you in 1895 the northern Lighthouse Board saw fit to place a lighthouse on a L'Amour and shortly after first constructing steep zigzagging stone stairways leading up to the islands summit on both the east and western sides of the island the construction of the lighthouse started due to consistent bad weather the construction took four years rather than the projected two and when it was finished consisted of both the eastern and western landings a crane around halfway up the staircases and small steam-powered trolleys on Rails to assist in carting supplies from the landing dock to the lighthouse there was a small living quarters for the crew and the lighthouse itself which stood 75 feet tall from the highest point on the northeastern tip of the Isle the light itself stood 275 feet above sea level and could be seen for up to 24 miles out at sea when it was lit for the first time on December the 1st 1899 whilst it was a modern lighthouse it was not fitted with any wireless or Telegraph equipment but instead used a signalling device that the crew could use in emergency to signal to a watch station in Lewis the crew of the lighthouse was four men strong three of whom stayed at the lighthouse at any one time and a fourth member who would rotate out to Lewis for two weeks leave in order to rest and recuperate from the high levels of responsibility unforgiving climate and the impressive isolation of the island the most senior and principal keeper was James - cat he was 43 years old and married with four children he had already spent 20 years in the lighthouse service during construction of the light on a l'amour he had spent 14 months acclimatizing himself with the island so that when the men made their move their full-time he was already familiar with every facet of the landscape the second assistant keeper was Thomas Marshall he was 28 years old and unmarried the third was a man named Donald MacArthur 40 years old and married he was in fact an occasional keeper standing him for the first assistant keeper who was away on extended sick leave Joseph Mohr was the fourth and last member of the crew was the man who on the 26th of December 1900 stood on the bow of the release vessel Hosparus watching for the welcoming party as it approached a land more to restock food and fuel for the crew and rotate personnel as the small relief ship approached the island the first sign of anything unusual that Joseph Moore noticed was the lack of a flag flying on the flagpole as they drew nearer however he also noticed that the usual store boxes which should have been placed out on the landing ready for restocking were curiously absent too due to the previous day's bad weather they were already overdue and Joseph's expected the men to be keen to see them arrive the crew signaled their imminent arrival by giving several blasts of the ship's horn and when still there seemed to be no sign of movement from the lighthouse they sent up a signal flare but the lighthouse stood ominously still against a still grey sky in his memorandum written two days later Joseph Rowe captain Harvey deemed it prudent to lower a boat and land a man if it was possible I was the first to land leaving mr. McCormick the boy master and the men in the boat till I could return I went up to the lighthouse and I'm coming to the entrance gate I found it closed I made for the entrance door leading to the kitchen and storeroom and found it also closed and a door inside that but the kitchen door itself was open on entering I looked at the fireplace and saw that the fire was not lighted for some days I entered the rooms in succession and found the beds empty just as they left them in the early morning I did not take time to search further fry naturally well knew that something serious had occurred I darted outside and made for the landing I informed mr. McCormick the place was deserted he with some men came up so as to make sure but unfortunately the first impression was only too true mr. McCormick and myself proceeded to the light room where everything was in proper order the lamp was clean the foundation for blinds on the windows etc in describing the living quarters more noted that MacArthur's wearing coat was left on its peg and I am of clothing that he would have surely needed in poor weather Moore stated it shows that as far as I know McArthur went out in his shirtsleeves on the night of the 26th Joseph and several other members of the Hesperus crew Alan McDonald the boy master and seaman Campbell and Lamont stayed on at ILM more meanwhile captain Harvey turned the Hosparus back to Lewis docking it briskly which housed the nearest telegraph station to a l'amour he made an urgent telegram to the secretary of the northern Lighthouse Board in Edinburgh stating a dreadful accident has happened at flan ins the 3t pers to Kat Marshall and the occasional have disappeared from the island fired a rocket but as no response was made managed to land more who went up to the station but found no keepers there the clocks were stopped and other signs indicated that the accident must have happened about a week ago poor fellows they must have been blown over the cliffs or drowned trying to secure a crane or something like that night coming on we could not wait to make further investigation but we'll go off again tomorrow morning to try and learn something as to their fate that night Joseph man the lighthouse ensuring it was littered at correct time the next morning the men thoroughly searched the island looking for some trace of the missing lighthouse team but found nothing it seemed as if the men had simply vanished over the next two days the men continued their search for any trace or clue as to what could have been behind a disappearance of the lighthouse crew on the east side of the island they found no sign of disturbance and everything was in order climbing down the sharp stone steps to the docking area they found that all landing ropes and equipment were properly and safely stored away in in their correct place as they made their way over to the western dock however small signs of trouble began to emerge Joseph found that at some point between his previous shift on the island and here on the 7th of December and his return on the 26th of December some force which he thought likely severe storm weather had caused the ion tracks of the steam Charlie to have broken in several places furthermore a box which was used to store more in ropes usually wedged and anchored into a crevice high up on the stone steps had vanished they also found that one of the cranes on the western steps used to carry stalks up to the steam tramway from the docking area was destroyed on the 29th December Robert Murr head of the northern Lighthouse Board arrived on the island to conduct an internal investigation on the missing lighthouse crew he confirmed most of the details previously given to the board of the discoveries the men had found concerning the damage to the western landing he also found a large block of stone weighing just over a ton had fallen down by the side of the pathway along with the missing life boy usually secured the railing by rope had disappeared in his report he documented his findings as such owing to the amount of sea I could not get down to the West landing place but I got down to the crane platform about 70 feet above the sea level the crane was found to be unharmed the jib lowered and secures of the rock and the canvas covering the wire rope on the barrels securely lashed around it and there was no evidence that the men had been doing anything at the crane the mooring ropes landing ropes derrick landing ropes and crane handles and also a wooden box in which they were kept and which was secured in a crevice in the rocks 70 feet of the tramway were displaced and twisted a large block of stone weighing upwards of 20 hundred ton had been dislodged from its position higher up and carried down and left on the concrete path leading from the terminus of the railway to the top of the stone steps a lifebuoy fast into the railing along this path to be used in case of emergency had disappeared and I thought well first it had been removed for the purpose of being used but on examining the ropes by which it was fastened I found that they had not been touched and as pieces of canvas were adhering to the ropes it was evident that the force of the sea pouring through the railings had even at this great height 110 feet above sea level torn the lifebuoy from the ropes Moorehead then turned his attention to the station's log books a diary type document that the crew used to record simple weather and sea conditions around the Isle along with any details that the crew would have found to be of particular no worthiness the log was kept with impeccable punctuality up until the 13th of December and looks for the 14th and 15th were kept on a slate and written in chalk which were to be transferred later to the logbook himself the final entry was dated to 15th December at 9:00 a.m. Joseph noted that the mornings work had been done and Laird eaten their lunchtime meal and cleaned up after themselves given that the sunset was as early as 4:00 p.m. in the winter and yet the light had not been lit her head felt quite sure to conclude that whatever grim fate accosted the men on the island it was almost certainly being carried out sometime in the early afternoon of the 15th of December this was backed up further by a report from Captain Holman of the vessel arctor who had passed a L'Amour on that evening and noted that a light was not lit so what did happen to the crew of the a L'Amour lighthouse on that bitter winters afternoon with no place to hide evidence and no way of deserting the men appear to have disappeared off the face of the earth however despite captain Hartley's dramatic telegram to the northern Lighthouse board men do not simply vanish there are a myriad of theories that proposed over the years concerning the disappearance of the lighthouse keepers availa more they range from the plausible to the extreme in strangeness but no matter the initial credibility of each none offer anything more than circumstantial evidence if the most bizarre has been put forward that the men were abducted by aliens or became victim to a supernatural cult which had ties with the old traditions of the Isle linked with the spiritual history there is naturally no evidence to support either however the theories are often put forward sea monsters and passing ships abducting the crew also out there and equally unsubstantiated one more plausible theory carries that at least one of the men suffering from a form of isolation sickness became violent and killed the other two men and then himself this relies on the evidence of the effects isolation can have on a person and is backed up by the fact that the relief vessel was late to arrive to the island this exact scenario in fact did occur in 1960 when the relief keeper of another lighthouse in Scotland on the Isle of little Ross named Hugh Clark was shot by the assistant keeper Robert Dixon a close-range with a 22 caliber rifle Robert Dixon pleaded insanity and cited distress and isolation to job as a contributing factor to his mental decline concerning this theory neither Moore Norma had noted any conceivable murder weapons as missing and there was no evidence of violence bound is a theory worthy of consideration however Moorhead's initial supposition suggested that high winds were the cause due to the damage of the western dock however upon later musings hereit's roof from this as his final conclusion on the subjects of high winds carrying the men over the cliffs edge he stated in his report as the wind was westerly I am of the opinion notwithstanding its great force that the more probable explanation is that they have been washed away as had the wind caught them it would from its direction have blown them up the islands and I feel certain that they would have managed to throw themselves down before they had reached the summit or prow of the island one of the theories deems most plausible and indeed was the initial conclusion of the northern Lighthouse Board at the time posited that there was a storm of some kind sufficient enough to cause damage to the Western pathway and landing port the men were drawn outside perhaps in attempt to reduce further damage and subsequently washed away after being struck by a wave the official report by Morehead dated 1901 stated after a careful examination of the place the railings the ropes etc and weighing all the evidence I could secure I'm of the opinion that the most likely explanation of the disappearance of the men is that they had all gone down on the afternoon of Saturday the 15th of December to the proximity of the West landing to secure the box with the mooring ropes etc and 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 Restless bores this would however have had to have been an incredible wave in 2000 the British oceanographic vessel RR s discovery recorded a 95 foot wave off the coast of Scotland however it was in severe gale force winds modern satellite data has also proven that waves of up to 98 feet can be common in all oceans around the world the men availa more however were thought to have been at least 110 feet above sea level on the night of the 15th the vessel arced or who reported the lack of light shining from the lighthouse further reported the weather conditions around a limb or as clear but stormy this is anything but specific however it does not sound like the weather was violent enough to have been notably bad in latter years the principal keeper of the a l'amour Lighthouse Walter Adelbert who served a station between 1953 and 1957 carried out his own research on the waves around a land more and found that waves could indeed reach the height of at least 200 metres he himself being almost swept away by one when he attempted to take photos of the giant waves from the top of the cliff he goes on to hypothesize that in his opinion the most likely scenario consists of two of the men going out to save the landing ropes as they were a necessary piece of equipment for a relief boat Island and was subsequently struck by a large wave which took one of the men out to sea the second man fearing for his safety and requiring help in attempting to rescue the first would have rushed back to the lighthouse to cool MacArthur who would then rush out leaving his coat behind the two men would have tried to help their colleague however a second wave could have been struck both men taking all three out to sea however this theory is not without holes if MacArthur rushed out with the second man to help the first why were all of the doors Farah shut by Joseph Moore upon its initial arrival further it has some contradictions at times Walther states nobody goes out of a light house in bad weather but then posits that the men did just that his justification is to save the landing ropes however were they really so significant as to be worth risking your life for could it not be possible to signal to land if they were lost or in the worst case scenario have the relief vessel turn back upon the revelation that they were lost and retrieve more as there were two landings is it far-fetched to believe that the ropes from the east landing could have been used temporarily for the West if needed and was the coincidence of two giant waves both over a hundred feet tall could have struck all three men in rather quick succession two of whom whilst attempting rescue would have surely been watching for this exact scenario Walter Adelbert also goes on to state in reference to the weather and sea conditions there perhaps these poor fellows being fairly new to the Fannin's did not realize the extreme danger however the men had already been on the island over a year and James took at the principal keeper had spent a further 14 months on the island to acclimatize himself to the environment prior to the completion of the lighthouses construction although largely accepted as the most likely theory is far from tied up now in its one hundred and 17th year the disappearance at the a l'amour lighthouse keeper's is just as casting shadow as it ever was we can point to the theory of a giant wave as certainly the most plausible however is not without holes nor conjecture any new concrete evidence arising is unlikely and just as the bodies that the men were never found concrete answers will most likely remain undiscovered to the unfortunate fate of James dekat Thomas Marshall and Donald MacArthur will persist as the mystery it was in 1900 thanks for listening please like subscribe and sleep tight

Channel: Dark Histories

Views: 45,722

Keywords: history, education, dark, horror, stories, eilean mor, lighthouse, mystery, disappearance, missing persons, missing people, flannan islands

Id: SMkjDGz4fFQ

Length: 23min 43sec (1423 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 24 2017