Watch the lighthouse video: https://youtu.be/866HC7g8ba8
Though three men dwell on Flannan Isle
To keep the lamp alight,
As we steered under the lee, we caught
No glimmer through the night.
Aye: though we hunted high and low,
And hunted everywhere,
Of the three men’s fate we found no trace,
Of any kind in any place,
But a door ajar, and an untouched meal,
And an overtoppled chair.
"Flanan Isle" by Wilfrid Wilson Gibson
The Flannan Isles Lighthouse was operational for a little over a year when the Keepers disappeared in December of 1900. Off the Scottish coast and 21 miles west of the Isle of Lewis, lay the Flannan Isles named after St. Flannan the Confessor.
He was of Irish nationality, but the precise period at which he lived is uncertain. What is known is that he became a monk at the monastery of Killaloe, and made a pilgrimage to Rome where Pope John IV consecrated him the first bishop of Killaloe. He was of noble birth, the son of King of Thomond in Ireland, who followed Flannan's example of holiness by later retiring and entering a monastery himself.
The largest of these seven islands, at 38 acres, is Eilean Mor (meaning simply, “Big Island”). Here you can find the ruins of a chapel built by St. Flannan himself, which definitely indicates that the saint resided there at some period. The Flannan Islands have always been regarded by the people of Lewis with great veneration and pilgrims used to process around the chapel on their knees in prayer.
Now the lighthouse is also situated on the same island as the chapel: its beam stretching forth to be seen as far 20 miles away.
During the Lighthouse’s operation, fortnightly reliefs were carried out until the disaster of December 1900. Prior to the discovery that the men were missing, the light had not been seen on the islands from the nearest point on Lewis, 16 miles away, for 10 days.
At the time three Lightkeepers were on duty at the lighthouse: James Ducat, Thomas Marshall, and Donald McArthur. There was one other Assistant Lightkeeper, Joseph Moore, but he was on shore duty in Brisklet.
A steamer passing the lighthouse around midnight on December 15th noted that the light was not lit and recounted this when they arrived at port. However, this fact was not communicated to the Commissioners and the disappearance of the keepers was only discovered as a result of the routine visit by the Lighthouse Tender ship Hesperus, on December 26th, 1900.
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Jul 31 202617 min