Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
The lack of accommodation continued to bedevil the NLB's efforts in respect of
double-manning. Their solution was to approach every relevant local authority in Scot-
land and get them to agree to let them have an appropriate number of houses for these
extra keepers. The Board would pay the rent, rates and later council tax, as all these
werepartofthekeepers'wages.Thisarrangementworkedwellenoughinitially,butthe
variousauthoritiesinsistedthatthehouseshadtobeinthenamesofthekeepers,notthe
NLB. When the implications of this filtered through to the workforce, several left the
job as they had secured their own tenancy of a council house.
As automation progressed, this particular problem tended to solve itself, as more of
theBoard'sownhousesatthesestationsfellemptyandfamiliesweremovedintothem;
thus the NLB was able to retain a measure of control over the keepers' housing.
On joining, a new employee was provided with a free house, uniform, basic items of
furniture, a certain amount of domestic stores and a free coal allocation. All of this was
considered part of their wages, which were not deemed excessive. In this respect, the
terms under which lightkeepers were employed had not really changed all that much
since the service was established. It was said by one lightkeeper that working for the
Board, in many ways, was like a step back into the past.
The life of a lightkeeper was not for everybody. A person would join as a super-
numerary (SLK) at which point they started on their journey around Scotland's edge,
which could last, in some cases, for many months.
Rubh'RewasatrainingstationandassuchthestationsawafairnumberofSLKpass
through. However, every now and again, one would disappear en route, when, having
beengivenatraveladvance bytheNLBheadquarters inEdinburgh,theyhadobviously
decidedthelifewasn'tforthem,takenthemoneyandgonehome.Ittendedtomakelife
abitmoredifficultattimesfortheotherlightkeepers,moresoifthestationwaswaiting
for one to arrive to relieve another so they could go on leave.
AnSLKwouldbeplacedinitiallyatastationasan'extra'mantolearnthedrillfrom
theestablishedcrewthere.Eventually,asanSLK,oncethemonthsoftravelling-afew
weeks here, a few weeks there - were completed, he would be appointed to a station
as a regular full-time career lighthouse keeper. It could have been a rock, a mainland
lighthouse, or an island.
Everyone mostly got along with each other, but not always. Authority didn't come
from merit or qualifications, just how long a person had been in the job.
Each lighthouse, whatever its location, worked exactly the same watch-keeping sys-
tem of four hours on watch, followed by eight hours off. The navigation light, as it was
referredto,wasalwayslitatduskandextinguishedatdawn.Tothisend,aframedchart
hung in every lightroom, detailing these times day by day for the entire year. The chart
was replaced by another when BST changed to GMT and vice versa. Depending on the
