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had happened. There was a strong possibility that he might not be believed in which
case he would therefore run the risk of being accused of murder with no real way of
proving his innocence.
It was well known that the two men, Tom Howells and Tom Griffiths, did not get on
and intensely disliked each other. When on duty the two men argued constantly, some-
times quite ferociously. The unfortunate location of the Smalls Lighthouse and the rel-
atively small size of it meant that neither man could get much of a break from the other
and spent most of their time in close proximity. Even the usual pastimes when relaxing
in a lighthouse, such as playing cards, would require one of the men to interact with the
otherinasociablemanner,andcarryingoutlighthouseworkrequiredbothtocooperate
whethertheylikeditornot.Fishingandreadingwereabouttheonlytwopursuitswhere
eachcoulddosomethingwithoutinvolvingtheother.Bothwouldnormallyexpecttheir
relief to arrive after one month on duty. However with appalling winter weather and
storms, the two were stuck on the lighthouse (and with each other) for four months.
Although the two of them argued constantly and vociferously, no physical contact was
involved, so there was no actual violence. One night, however, matters came to a head
wheninthemiddleofyetanotherfuriousrow,Griffithsbecamesoenragedhecollapsed
andfelltothefloor,gashedhisheadonametallanternanddied.Howellswastherefore
left with his dead colleague on the floor with no way of alerting the mainland directly
of what had happened.
Howells's somewhat ingenious solution to the problem was to construct a makeshift
coffin out of the wooden cupboards in the lighthouse. He then dragged the makeshift
coffin up the circular steps of the lighthouse to lash the box itself with the dead body
inside it, to the outside of the light tower, onto the lantern rails along with a distress
flag. By doing this, the body was out of the confines of the interior once it started to
decompose but it was at least proof, as far as Howells was concerned, that he had not
murdered his colleague Griffiths. By taking the body outside, Howells had also hoped
thatthecoldweatherwouldalsoslowthedecompositionofthebody.Anumberofships
passed the lighthouse and saw the wooden box lashed to the lantern's rails (but not the
supposed distress flag) which, it is reported, some observers thought odd but none of
them did anything regarding investigating or reporting it. As time passed, Howells, left
alone in the tower with the body lashed to the outside, slowly lost his mind and by the
time the relief boat came for him, accounts have said that he was quite unhinged. Al-
though there may be some journalistic licence involved, a contemporary report states
that relief boats were unable to reach the lighthouse owing to the bad weather but the
men on board could see that the waves had smashed the wooden box to pieces, and the
decomposing body of Griffiths was hanging onto the lantern rail with an arm hooked
