Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
As far as meals went, individual tastes were generally not catered for. This led to
some amusing episodes, such as one which occurred on a station where 'mince and
tatties' was a firm favourite. On one particular day the ALK, who was duty cook, no-
ticedthattherecentlyarrivedPLKhadpickedallthecarrotsoutofhisportion,announ-
cing his distaste for them. The next time 'mince and tatties' were served, the ALK had
chopped up the carrots even smaller, but again the PLK repeated his performance of
taking all the carrots out. Finally, for the next occasion, the ALK grated all the carrots,
at which point the PLK gave up in disgust.
Overall, relations were good, but as with any organisation there would inevitably be
the occasional management and worker disputes. One keeper's view was that, over the
years,ithadbeentheNLB'sunofficialresponsetogive'awkward'fellowsa'bad'post-
ing sooner or later; nothing could be proved of course, but his perception was that their
patience was infinite and their memory of 'past misdeeds' long. Some PLKs had repu-
tations of being particularly difficult on one rock. In one instance, a situation reached
the stage where the ALKs refused to board the helicopter with one such individual. But
luckilythevirtualmutinywasavoidedbyleavingthePLKashore.Eventuallyasuitable
posting was found for the PLK and everything settled down. It was also believed by
some keepers that if someone looked like actually achieving something advantageous
for the workforce, he would then be promoted into management. One PLK was emin-
ently successful in setting up a union for lightkeepers and he eventually became Depot
Manager at Oban, a job that had hitherto been closed to keepers. He was the only one
ofthekeepersevertorisetothislevel,withhispredecessorsandsuccessorsusuallybe-
ing appointed from the Tenders. Another who made substantial progress as one of two
Union representatives was offered, and subsequently accepted, the newly created post
of Welfare Officer, based at 84 George Street, Edinburgh. He was considered to be, and
eventually proved to have been, an excellent choice.
It would be perfectly correct to say that in essence, the work carried out by James
Ducat, Thomas Marshall and Donald Macarthur in 1900 would not have been greatly
different to the work carried out by lightkeepers seventy-odd years later. Automation
had started in the 1960s and some, but by no means all, lights had been electrified. The
technology which is taken forgranted in the twenty-first century simply did not exist in
1900. From the 1900s, there would also have been some changes to creature comforts,
and aids to the working of a lighthouse, such as the advent of radio and foghorns.
The introduction of foghorns benefited seamen but brought other problems for the
lighthousemen operating them. Sudden mist or fog was always a possibility and on one
occasion at one station, the foghorn stayed on for a full week after the fog had descen-
ded. The sound at such close quarters made talking difficult, and there was an art to
having a conversation and building it around the sounding of the horn
.
Also the sound
