Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
The NLB superintendent usually visited once a year, at which time he and the PLK
would decide on what painting and other work had to be carried out at the station. This
was paid work, fixed at a certain rate per hour and shared between all of them at the
station. Generally, but not always, it involved painting. As previously mentioned, some
stations undertook weather reporting for the Meteorological Office and this too was
paid work, the Board charged the Meteorological Office heavily for their services. It
was not compulsory, however, and some refused to do it even though the keepers were
paid for their work. Where keepers on a station refused the work, this resulted in the
task being given to the next lighthouse up or down the coast.
Another break to the monotony of the daily routine was the arrival of visitors.
Anyone could ask to be shown around, provided it did not interfere with work. Mostly
visitorsweretakenupthetowerofastation intheafternoon.Amongsuchvisitorswere
politician and religious leader Ian Paisley and his family, who were shown around the
Butt of Lewis on one occasion.
In the late nineteenth and early part of the twentieth century, the lightkeepers' diet
was, broadly speaking, somewhat dull and stodgy. It consisted largely of bulk staples:
driedpeas,lentils,flour,potatoesetc.Anymeatwasusuallysaltedtopreserveit,mainly
beef. There was also corned beef. There was always plenty of tea, of course, plus sugar
in bulk, along with condensed and powdered milk. After a relief visit there may have
beensmallamountsoffreshfruitandvegetables,althoughpriortoelectricitytherewere
alwayspreservationdifficulties.Alsoafterarelieftherewouldperhapsbeenoughbread
forthefollowingfewdays.Somerockstations(althoughnottheFlannans),hadthelux-
ury of having well-established vegetable gardens. On the more remote stations, there
would be eggs available for short periods and, again after a relief, possibly a side of
bacon, and oatcakes would be eaten once the bread had run out. The constant difficulty
would have been food preservation; however, one staple that was always available to
the lightkeepers in bulk was porridge.
Prior to the use of helicopters for carrying out reliefs, each station would have had
a store of emergency rations, which would mainly consist of a variety of tinned food-
stuffs, only to be utilised in the event of a relief going overdue. This happened on a
fairly regular basis in those days, when rock reliefs were mostly carried out by the
tenders.Theemergencystockwasdatedandthelightkeeperswouldregularlyrotatethe
tins. A visit to the Flannan Isles lighthouse by a Church of Scotland minister in April
1900 records a meal shared with the lightkeepers (William Ross and James Ducat are
recorded as being present, as Ducat asked the minister to say a blessing for the meal
and William Ross had prepared and cooked the food). The minister described the meal
as plain fare but abundant with broth, beef and excellently cooked mashed potatoes fol-
lowed by plum pudding.
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