There was a lighthouse on the Flannan Isles in the Outer Hebrides off the west coast of Scotland to guide the sailors. Suddenly, the light of that lighthouse went out one day. On December 26, 1900, the captain of a ship reported that there was a terrible accident at Flannan. Jim Harvie, the Captain of Hesperus, had sent a telegram to the Northern Lighthouse Board, mentioning: “A dreadful accident has happened at the Flannans. The three keepers, James Ducat, Thomas Marshall and the Occasional have disappeared from the Island… The clocks were stopped and other signs indicated that the accident must have happened about a week ago. Poor fellows, they must have been blown over the cliffs or drowned trying to secure a crane.” What happened on that day is still a mystery. No one knows why the lighthouse went dark.

Later, a team of investigators, led by Captain Harvie, went to the Flannan Isle with a ship. They were shocked after entering the lighthouse. There were three keepers to look after the different functions of the lighthouse. However, the investigating team found none of them on the isle! The mystery surrounding their disappearance still remains unsolved. The lighthouse was built in 1895-99. The concerned authorities recruited three keepers – James Ducat, Thomas Marshall, and Donald McArthur – for proper functioning of the lighthouse. Since December 15, 1900, these three persons have not been found. It may be noted that there was a terrible storm in the North Atlantic at that time.

Captain Harvie and his team reached the Flannan Isles on December 26, 1900. The lighthouse had 160 stairs. Joseph Moore, a member of that team, was the first person to reach the top of the lighthouse. He found the entrance gate to the compound and the main door both closed, the beds unmade, and the clock unwound. Then, Moore returned to the landing stage with this grim piece of information and returned to the lighthouse with Hesperus‘ second-mate and a seaman. A further search revealed that the lamps had been cleaned and refilled. They also found a set of oilskins, suggesting that one of the keepers had left the lighthouse without them. However, there was no sign of any of the keepers, neither inside the lighthouse nor anywhere on the isle. Interestingly, there was only one living creature in the entire lighthouse… a yellow canary bird inside a cage. Captain Harvie’s team had no idea about how long the bird survived without food!

Later, Moore mentioned in his report that he realised something was wrong after entering the lighthouse. The intensity of the storm was evident in the western part of the isle. Investigators found iron railings on the west side of the lighthouse bent. A railway line was being laid on the isle at that time. Some boulders rolled down and fell on them, damaging the railway tracks badly. In his report submitted to the Northern Lighthouse Board, Captain Harvie stated that the three keepers might have been blown away by a strong storm. However, he was not sure whether the storm claimed their lives.

Robert Muirhead, a Superintendent of the Northern Lighthouse Board who recruited those three keepers, himself arrived on the isle on December 29, 1900 to conduct an official investigation into the incident. In his report, Muirhead stated that there was an accident on that isle that claimed the three lives.

Reports suggest that two keepers went to the west side of the isle after enjoying dinner on December 15, 1900. Suddenly, a storm rocked the isle and a huge wave swallowed the two. However, Muirhead claimed that the wind was blowing towards the isle that night. Hence, the wind could not blow the guards out to sea. No one knows what happened to the third one. Some are of the opinion that the three keepers could no longer live on that deserted isle, and they committed suicide. Others believe that the three might have killed each other. In both cases, their bodies should have been recovered. Unfortunately, no one found the bodies.

As McArthur was the ill-tempered among the three, many believe that he murdered the other two before committing suicide. However, no one knows what really happened that night even 120 years after the incident.

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das