MURDER - The Lighthouse - page 110

missioners, including the Lord Advocate, so there was direct involvement in the run-
ning of the NLB by Scottish lawyers. Initially it was felt that a full inquiry might have
been necessary; however, on 1 February 1901 the Crown Office in Edinburgh sent a
letter toNLBSecretary James Murdoch.Theletter washeaded 'Flannans Disaster'and
stated:
Sir,
Referring to my letter 29th ulto, I am desired by Crown Counsel to inform you that
the question raised by your letter of the 22nd ulto has been considered by them, and
that they have come to the conclusion, contrary to their previous opinion, that it is not
necessary to hold an inquiry under the Act of 1895. I am further desired to ask you to
be good enough to send me, for the perusal of Crown Counsel, the Report which your
board have already obtained, from your Officer, as to the accident, with relative docu-
ments.
I am Sir
Your Obedient Servant
NJ Douglas
Crown Agent 21
The decision had already been made, therefore, that a formal inquiry would not be ne-
cessary without evenseeingMuirhead'sreport.Therelativedocumentsbeingrequested
to be sent to them for perusal with Muirhead's report would most likely include wit-
ness statements 22 taken by Muirhead, but would almost certainly include the station lo-
gbook, possibly the station scrapbook and any other official and unofficial paperwork
Muirhead may have found and brought back with him to Edinburgh.
The attitude by the police and legal profession may have been more understandable
had the three men's bodies been found or washed ashore and it could have been proven
that they died from drowning, which would have appeared a straightforward case of
misadventure.However,therewasnodefinitiveproofofthat,despitethecircumstantial
evidence of damage to the west landing.
The NLB obviously had the utmost confidence in Robert Muirhead to do a satisfact-
ory job with his investigation. In the wake of the tragedy, Muirhead, along with mem-
bers of the tender's crew and the replacement keepers, were the only people who set
foot on Eilean Mor; there appears to be no record of anyone else doing so. Even so, the
almost casual approach to the disappearances by the other authorities does seem rather
puzzling, under the circumstances.