How To Repair Motor On Revolving Beacon Light For Lighthouse

On the 26th Dec 1900, a small ship was making its way to the Flannan Islands in the remote Outer Hebrides. Its destination was the lighthouse at Eilean Mor, a remote isle which (apart from its lighthouse keepers) was completely uninhabited.

Although uninhabited, the isle has ever sparked people's interest. It is named after St. Flannen, a 6th century Irish gaelic Bishop who subsequently became a saint. He built a chapel on the island and for centuries shepherds used to bring over sheep to the island to graze just would never stay the night, fearful of the spirits believed to haunt that remote spot.

Captain James Harvey was in charge of the ship which was also carrying Jospeph Moore, a replacement lifehouse keeper. Equally the ship reached the landing platform, Helm Harvey was surprised not to see anyone waiting for their inflow. He blew his horn and sent up a warning flare to concenter attention.

At that place was no response.

Joseph Moore then rowed ashore and ascended upwards the steep set of stairs that led upwardly to the lighthouse. Co-ordinate to reports from Moore himself, the replacement lighthouse keeper suffered an overwhelming sense of foreboding on his long walk up to the top of the cliff.

This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license. Attribution: Marc Calhoun

The island of Eilean Mor, with the lighthouse in the groundwork. Attribution: Marc Calhoun under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Akin 2.0 Generic license.

Once at the lighthouse, Moore noticed something was immediately wrong; the door to the lighthouse was unlocked and in the entrance hall two of the three oil skinned coats were missing. Moore continued onto the kitchen surface area where he plant one-half eaten nutrient and an overturned chair, almost as if someone had jumped from their seat in a bustle. To add to this peculiar scene, the kitchen clock had also stopped.

Moore continued to search the rest of the lighthouse simply found no sign of the lighthouse keepers. He ran back to the ship to inform Captain Harvey, who subsequently ordered a search of the islands for the missing men. No-i was establish.

Harvey quickly sent back a telegram to the mainland, which in turn was forwarded to the Northern Lighthouse Board Headquarters in Edinburgh. The telegraph read:

A dreadful blow has happened at Flannans. The 3 Keepers, Ducat, Marshall and the occasional have disappeared from the isle. On our arrival at that place this afternoon no sign of life was to be seen on the Island.

Fired a rocket simply, every bit no response was made, managed to land Moore, who went upwards to the Station but found no Keepers there. The clocks were stopped and other signs indicated that the blow must have happened about a calendar week ago. Poor fellows they must been blown over the cliffs or drowned trying to secure a crane or something like that.

Night coming on, nosotros could not wait to make something equally to their fate.
I take left Moore, MacDonald, Buoymaster and two Seamen on the isle to keep the light burning until you brand other arrangements. Volition not return to Oban until I hear from y'all. I accept repeated this wire to Muirhead in case you lot are not at home. I volition remain at the telegraph office tonight until it closes, if y'all wish to wire me.

A few days later, Robert Muirhead, the board's supernatant who both recruited and knew all three men personally, departed for the island to investigate the disappearances.

His investigation of the lighthouse found nada over and in a higher place what Moore had already reported. That is, except for the lighthouse'southward log…

Muirhead immediately noticed that the last few days of entries were unusual. On the 12th December, Thomas Marshall, the second assistant, wrote of 'severe winds the likes of which I have never seen earlier in twenty years'. He too noticed that James Ducat, the Principal Keeper, had been 'very repose' and that the tertiary assistant, William McArthur, had been crying.

What is strange about the final remark was that William McArthur was a seasoned mariner, and was known on the Scottish mainland as a tough brawler. Why would he be crying about a storm?

Log entries on the 13th December stated that the storm was withal raging, and that all three men had been praying. But why would three experienced lighthouse keepers, safely situated on a brand new lighthouse that was 150 feet above ocean level, exist praying for a tempest to end? They should take been perfectly rubber.

Even more than peculiar is that in that location were no reported storms in the area on the 12th, 13th and 14th of Dec. In fact, the weather was calm, and the storms that were to batter the island didn't hit until December 17th.

The terminal log entry was made on the 15th Dec. Information technology but read 'Tempest ended, sea calm. God is over all'. What was meant past 'God is over all'?

After reading the logs, Muirhead'south attending turned to the remaining oil skinned coat that had been left in the entrance hall. Why, in the biting cold winter, had one of the lighthouse keepers ventured out without his coat? Furthermore, why had all three lighthouse staff left their posts at the same fourth dimension, when rules and regulations strictly prohibited it?

Farther clues were found downwardly past the landing platform. Here Muirhead noticed ropes strewn all over the rocks, ropes which were commonly held in a dark-brown crate 70 anxiety to a higher place the platform on a supply crane. Perhaps the crate had been dislodged and knocked downwards, and the lighthouse keepers were attempting to call back them when an unexpected wave came and washed them out to ocean? This was the outset and about likely theory, and as such Muirhead included it in his official report to the Northern Lighthouse Lath.

The landing platform at Eilean Mor

The landing platform at Eilean Mor

But this caption left some people in the Northern Lighthouse Lath unconvinced. For one, why had none of the bodies been washed ashore? Why had 1 of the men left the lighthouse without taking his coat, specially since this was December in the Outer Hebridies? Why had three experienced lighthouse keepers been taken unaware by a wave?

Although these were all good questions, the most pertinent and persistent question was effectually the weather conditions at the fourth dimension; the seas should take been at-home! They were sure of this as the lighthouse could be seen from the nearby Island of Lewis, and whatever bad weather would have obscured information technology from view.

Over the following decades, subsequent lighthouse keepers at Eilean Mor take reported strange voices in the wind, calling out the names of the three dead men. Theories near their disappearance have ranged from foreign invaders capturing the men, all the way through to alien abductions! Whatever the reason for their disappearance, something (or someone) snatched those iii men from the rock of Eilean Mor on that winter's solar day over 100 years ago.

Eilean Dor