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Forum index » Archive » Archive: General » ARG: Sable & Shuck

Eilean Mor

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Bidvision
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Joined: 30 Apr 2005
Posts: 127

Eilean Mor

Thought I'd start a new topic on this to avoid cluttering up other threads with it.

On the back ofthe photo on the desk in The Hiding Room, it mentions "Eilean Mor". Apparently Jon hated it, as well as veg.

There is a mystery surrounding Eilean Mor, that goes like this:

Quote:

No explanation has ever been forthcoming for the disappearance of the three lighthouse keepers of the Eilean Mor lighthouse on the Flannan Islands, off the west coast of Scotland.

These desolate rocks are situated on the outermost fringe of the British Isles. The nearest land is the island of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, 20 miles to the east; westward the Atlantic Ocean stretches uninterrupted across to North America. The islands are small - Eilean Mor, the largest, is only 500 metres across. They have the reputation of being haunted, and though Hebridean farmers might sometimes leave their sheep for fattening on the fine green turn of the tiny isles, nothing would persuade them to remain overnight themselves. Four retired seamen looked after the lighthouse, working three at a time in shifts of six weeks on the island, followed by two weeks leave on the mainland. Every two weeks, the supply vessel Hesperus arrived with mail, oil and food. The boat brought one man back from his two weeks off and left with another, due for his two weeks away.

On 6 December 1900 it was the turn of Joseph Moore to be relieved. When the skipper of the Hesperus asked him if he was looking forward to his shore leave, he replied 'Aye', and added with a nod to the tiny little island fading out of sight behind them, ''Tis pretty lonely there sometimes.'

The lighthouse was just one-year-old. Moore and the others - Thomas Marshall, James Ducat and Donald McArthur - had served through one long winter. None of them looked forward to their second experience of it. The living quarters of the lighthouse gave them shelter from the howling winds but there was little to do to pass the time, except read and reread newspapers and books, play draughts and stare out at the grey, restless sea. Moore had noticed how the four of them were speaking less to each other. The natural conviviality of the mariner had given place to long periods of solitary brooding.

On 21 December Joseph Moore once again borded the Hesperus to return for his period of duty on Eilean Mor. The weather had been unexpectedly calm during his two weeks of leave but a severe storm blew up soon after the boat left port. For three days the Hesperus rode the storm off the Hebridean coast and it was only on the 24th that it was able to approach the Flannan Isles. Moore was alarmed to see that the 140,000-candlepower light of the lighthouse was out but, anxious though he was to land and find out what was wrong, it was two more days before the Hesperus could safely approach the island's east dock.

No preparations had been made for their arrival. There were no empty packing-cases or mooring ropes on the jetty. Repeated blasts on the foghorn brought no one from the lighthouse. A boat was let down and Joseph Moore was first ashore. The entrance gate and the main door of the lighthouse were closed. Moore went inside and shouted. There was no reply. Moore ran back to the jetty for help, afraid he might find the keepers dead in the lighthouse turret. Two men climbed the stairs with him to investigate but there was no sign of life. The entire lighthouse was empty but everything was neat and in order. The wicks of the lanterns had been cleaned and trimmed and the lamps filled with oil ready to be lit after dark. The last entry on the record slate had been made on 15 December. The only unusual thing was that two of the three sets of oilskins and seaboots that belonged to the men were missing.

Sailors from the Hesperus searched the island. They found no trace of the missing men but came upon some clues that at first suggested an answer to the mystery. The west dock had suffered extensive storm damage. On a conrete platform, 65 feet above the water, stood a crane with ropes trailing down from it. These ropes were usually stored in a tool chest, kept in a crevice 110 feet above sea level. Had some tremendous storm, with waves over 100 feet high, battered the island and carried away the chest, draping its ropes over the crane? Had it also swept the three men to their deaths? This was unlikely because such exceptionally high waves are extremely rare. Besides, experienced lighthouse keepers would hardly have been so foolish as to venture onto a jetty during a storm but if they had, all three oilskins would have been missing instead of two.

Meanwhile, Moore was examining the log with the captain of the Hesperus at his side. Thomas Marshall had written the log and from his brief entries sprang the image of an unnameable terror that had overwhelmed the men on their isolated rock. The log said,

'December 12: Gale, north by northwest. Sea lashed to fury. Stormbound. 9 p.m. Never seen such a storm. Waves very high. Tearing at lighthouse. Everything shipshape. Ducat irritable.'

Moore and the captain glanced at each other. On 12 December no storm had been reported at Lewis, 20 miles away. The reference to Ducat's temper was also unusual.

The next entry had been written the same day at midnight,

'Storm still raging. Wind steady. Stormbound. Cannot go out. Ship passing sounding foghorn. Could see lights of cabins. Ducat quiet. McArthur crying.'

Again Moore and the captain stared at each other. What extremity could have caused the veteran seaman, Donald McArthur to weep? They read on,

'December 13: Storm continued through night. Wind shifted west by north. Ducat quiet. McArthur praying.'

Yesterday McArthur had been crying, today he prayed.

'12 Noon. Grey daylight. Me, Ducat and McArthur prayed.'

When Moore spoke before the board of enquiry that investigated the disappearance, he stated that he had never known any of his companions to pray. Fear of the storm was unlikely to have made them do so, since all had experience many storms during their long years on the high seas.

One last entry remained in the log,

"December 15: 1 p.m. Storm ended. Sea calm. God is over all.'

There was no entry for 14 December. Why? It will probably never be known, just as what happened after their final log entry remains a mystery. At the enquiry it was reported that on the night of 15 December the SS Archer narrowly escaped running into the rocks of Eilean Mor because no light was visible. It can be presumed that all three men were gone by then.

Could a freak storm, undetected elsewhere, have broken over the island? Could Ducat and McArthur have gone down to the west dock and been swept away? It seems more likely that the men went out in the calm after the storm to inspect it, especially since Marshall's last entry reports the end of the storm, but no one can say what happened next. One suggestion that gained widespread acceptance is that one of the three went insane, killed his two companions and then himself. Although hammers, knives and axes were all untouched in their proper places, the attacker could have used a rock as a weapon. He could have pushed their bodies into the sea, plunging after them to his own death.

Did some overmastering religious mania come upon one of the men? Did he see visions as St. Flannan, a hermit on the island long ago, is said to have seen God? Could the raging storm of the log entry have been in his mind only? After all, the damage to the dock could have been caused by the storm that delayed the Hesperus, after the unknown events of the lighthouse had taken place. Whatever happened during those terrible days and nights, the rocks of Eilean Mor have kept their secret.

Posted: Mon May 23, 2005 8:09 am

bartmans
Veteran

Joined: 30 Dec 2004
Posts: 97
Location: the Netherlands

OK, Bidvision

This info was already known and chwed over and out, without leaving any clues. What was your point in bringing this up again?

_________________
Life is just like a game. You know it has to come to an end.

Posted: Mon May 23, 2005 4:56 pm

Bidvision
Veteran

Joined: 30 Apr 2005
Posts: 127

A search didn't bring it up, my apologies for trouting it.

My "point" was to try to assist in solving Sable and Shuck, an ARG sponsored by Stella Artois.

Posted: Wed May 25, 2005 5:21 am

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