On the night of December 15th, 1900, the transatlantic steamer, the Archtor, was on its voyage from Philadelphia to the port of Leith. On their way they passed the Flannan Isles Lighthouse, noticing the light was off. This was of course unusual, so when the Archtor docked in Leith three days later, they passed the news to the Northern Lighthouse Board that something was amiss.
The lighthouse on Eilean Mòr, Scotland, was manned by three men: James Ducat, 43, Thomas Marshall, 40, and Donald William MacArthur, 28, who was an occasional keeper, filling in for William Ross, who was on sick leave.
On December 26th of that year, Jim Harvie made his way to the island, captaining a ship called Hesperus. He was joined by Joseph Moore, a relief keeper. His visit marked the start of one of the most mysterious disappearances in Scottish history.
Upon arriving at the island, Jim Harvie sounded his ship’s horn and sent up a flare, hoping to alert and get a response from the three lighthouse keepers, but there was no sign. So, Joseph Moore disembarked the ship and set off up the steps to the lighthouse. When he got there, he noticed that the table was set for a meal that hadn’t been eaten, and the clock on the wall of the kitchen had stopped ticking. The only sign of life; a yellow canary in its cage.
Moore returned to the Hesperus and reported his findings to Jim Harvie, who, upon hearing the news, sent two sailors to shore to help Moore search the island for any sign of the three men. The only thing they found in the lighthouse was a set of oilskins, suggesting that one man had gone out in just his shirt.
On the West side of the island, they found a supply box that had been smashed open, iron railings bent and twisted out of shape, large rocks displaced, and turf ripped from the tops of the cliffs. All signs that the island had been hit by a massive storm. Yet there was still no sign of the three keepers.
So, what happened to the Flannan Isles Lighthouse Keepers? Jim Harvie sent word back to the Northern Lighthouse Board, theorising that the three men had ‘been blown over the cliffs or drowned.’ He returned to port with the Hesperus, leaving Joseph Moore and three other sailors to man the lighthouse and continue the search for the missing men.
On December 29th, Robert Muirhead, the Superintendent of the Northern Lighthouse Board, arrived on the island to begin his investigation into the disappearance of the Flannan Isles Lighthouse Keepers. He knew the three men quite well, so knew that the oilskins left behind in the lighthouse belonged to Donald MacArthur.
Muirhead theorised that James Ducat and Thomas Marshall had gone out into the storm to secure the supplies and equipment that were stored outside, only to be swept out to sea by large waves caused by the storm. When they failed to return, MacArthur had rushed out to find them, leaving his jacket behind, where the same fate befell him.
His report wrapped up the investigation, but the mystery continues to this day, with many not believing it was as simple as that. Matters were made more confusing by the supposed discovery of a log book, which had some interesting entries from the 12th to the 15th of December. Entries on the 12th told of a great storm hitting the island, and an entry on the 15th said that the storm had passed, but there was no mention of any death, which had one or even two occurred, it would have been written about.
The logbook made many people question if the men truly had been swept out to sea, or if something more sinister had happened. It was determined later, however, that the log book entries were fabricated, simply added into the story in the years following the incident.
Theories:
Theories of what really happened the the Flannan Isles Lighthouse Keepers include that the three men were kidnapped off the island by pirates, that one of the men (possibly MacArthur due to his volatile temper) murdered the others and then killed himself or fled the island. A third theory is that supernatural forces were at play, with subsequent lighthouse keepers on the island reporting to hear strange voices in the wind.
The official report is that of Robert Muirhead, that the men were swept out to sea, but with no sign of any bodies and reports from nearby islands that the sea was calm that night, can we be sure of what really happened to the Flannan Isles Lighthouse Keepers?
Sources:
https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofScotland/The-Eilean-Mor-Lighthouse-Mystery/
https://www.strangeoutdoors.com/historical-strangeness/eilean-mor-light-house-mystery
