A Lighthouse Transcript (Scotland: A Scottish History Podcast)
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Scotland - A Scottish History Podcast
Episode 25 - A Lighthouse
MICHAEL PARK: It is 1900. You are alone.
The only noise you can hear as you pick your way slowly up toward the gate is that of the wind biting at every bit of exposed skin, causing you to pull the collar of your coat up to protect yourself.
It is now just over a week since the Captain of Archtor first suggested something might be wrong on Eilean Mor (aylan mohr). They had passed on their way to Leith and had seen no light.
You are the first soul to set foot on the island since the relief ship, the Hesperus, was delayed due to damned winter weather.
There was no-one there to greet the ship as you hoved into view, but all the crates that the lighthouse keepers left out for resupply were there, sitting on the little jetty where you moored your boat.
There is no flag flying in the howling wind. The Captain of the Hesperus has tried to signal the shore with the whistle and a flare which lit up the slate grey sky scarlet as it twirled into the air high above the ruins of the chapel of St Flannan.
As the relief lighthouse keeper, it is your task to go ashore and find out what’s happened.
The gate which leads up to the light at the highest point of the tiny island is closed, as is the main door to the little lighthouse. It creaks with the assurance of weight as you push it open.
You call out into the darkness.
There is no answer.
The beds are unmade.
There is a set of oilskins hanging on a peg by the door. You know there should be three. You know that means that someone went out in a storm without them on.
You are no longer alone. Two sailors from the Hesperus are helping you search the house and the island itself. The oil in the lamps which illuminated the night sky has been refilled, the filters cleaned for another night’s signals.
The only thing missing is the three men who tended it. James Ducat, Thomas Marshall, and Donald McArthur were nowhere to be found.
They would never be found.
The Captain of the Hesperus telegrams the Northern Lighthouse Board on his return to port:
HESPERUS CAPTAIN: A dreadful accident has happened at the Flannans (stop) The three keepers, Ducat, Marshall and the Occasional have disappeared from the Island (stop) The clocks were stopped and other signs indicated that the accident must have happened about a week ago (stop) Poor fellows they must have been blown over the cliffs or drowned trying to secure a crane (stop)
MICHAEL PARK: You spend the next days on Eilean Mor, desperately searching for any clue about what happened to the three keepers. You find nothing except storm damage on the West landing where it seems that winds had managed to move giant boulders and rip the iron fencing from the concrete which held it.
A man from the Northern Lighthouse Board comes and conducts an investigation - a very thorough one, you’re quite sure - and concludes that the wind was blowing in the wrong direction to have blown your colleagues away, and that the crane you believed they had been trying to secure was untouched, and that they had been washed away into the sea by some horrifying rolling wave which had come up above them and taken them down.
The whole thing unsettles your nerves but you’re obliged to stay at Flannan Isle lighthouse as they say they need someone who knows the light to tend it until permanent arrangements can be made.
Eventually you leave Eilean Mor and every time you tell anyone about the lighthouse, about Ducat, and Marshall, and McArthur, they ask you about the madness that overcame them, the sea serpents or the spies who spirited them away in the night.
You say they were washed away.
They say ‘ah, but what about the uneaten meals on the table.
You say the same thing every time. There were no meals left out. All the cutlery and crockery had been put away neatly.
CREDITS
You’ve been listening to Scotland, it was written and produced by me, Michael Park and is a production of Be Quiet Media.
Additional voices in this episode were by Chris Moriarty.
The music for every episode of Scotland is by the human substitution cipher, Mitch Bain, you can check out more of his work by heading over to Facebook and searching for Mitch Bain music.
Scotland is supported by Chris Lingwood and listeners like you on Patreon. Get involved and chuck us a couple of bucks at: patreon.com/scotlandhistorypodcast
You can find out more about the show on our website, thisisscotland.co and on twitter, facebook and instagram by searching Scotland - Scottish History Podcast.
Thanks for listening, we’ll see you next time.