DISCOVERY - The Lighthouse - page 36

4
D ISCOVERY
Probably the first notification that all was not well on Eilean Mor would have been the
arrival of the Archtor at Leith, scheduled for 17 December 1900, when Captain Holman
could have notified the authorities, and the Northern Lighthouse Board headquarters in
Edinburgh, of the lack of a light when the ship passed the Flannan Isles less than two
days previously. 1 However, the last quarter of the year 1900 was not a good one for the
Archtor .OnlysixweekspriortopassingtheFlannanIslesonthenightof15-16Decem-
ber, the ship had suffered a broken tailshaft. On 5 November 1900 she was towed into
Halifax,NovaScotia,bythetanksteamer Chesapeake afterdriftinghelplessly250miles
from Halifax bound for New York from Leith. 2 Despite the ignominy of being treated
as salvage on that occasion, the reason for the delay of the Archtor 's arrival into Leith
and an earlier reporting of the lack of an operating light on Eilean Mor was a far more
serious matter. As the Archtor made her way in towards the Firth of Forth, the lights
of the following were all visible to assist her passage: the Fidra Light; the North Carr
Light Vessel; the May Island Light and finally the Anstruther Light. While the ship was
between Girdleness and the Bell Rock on a south-south-westerly course, Captain Hol-
manhadtakenanobservationatapproximately 1.45p.m.ontheafternoonof17Decem-
ber. At approximately 4.45 p.m. the Bell Rock was passed to the west and an hour later
(5.45p.m.)theNorthCarrLightVesselwasabeamatadistanceofapproximately¾mile
to 1 mile. Some time prior to this, Captain Holman had decided that all was proceeding
well and left the bridge to go down below with the chief officer for their tea. The Archt-
or was left in the hands of the third officer. Captain Holman returned to the bridge at
approximately 5.50 p.m. and was informed by the third officer that they had just passed
the North Carr Light Vessel and that he had just run a four-point bearing to estimate the
North Carr Light Vessel's distance from the Archtor . This bearing was later found to be
incorrect through not taking into account the actual speed of the ship and also not taking
into account the wind and tide. 3 By the time Captain Holman had returned to the bridge,
it was very dark but clear. there was a moderate gale from the west-south-west and the
sea conditions were slight to moderate.