DISCOVERY - The Lighthouse - page 38

least being the possible complete loss of the ship and also his livelihood as a conse-
quence of the grounding under his command. It would not have been unreasonable to
expect him to put the matter of the missing light completely out of his mind for some
time.Furthermore,allhecouldhaveseenwasthattheFlannanIsleslightwasnotwork-
ing and it may not have been working for any number of reasons. He could not have
had any inkling of the calamity that had taken place there. Despite the not inconsider-
able problems facing Captain Holman, he arrived in Leith on 18 December 1900 (only
a day later than intended) and notified his concern about the failure of the Eilean Mor
light that same day to the Archtor 's owners (Henderson and McIntosh). A letter from
Henderson and McIntosh was eventually sent on 28 December 1900 to the secretary
of the NLB informing them of Captain Holman's observations and apologising for the
delay in notification, but referred to the grounding of the Archtor as the reason for pre-
occupying them. 5 It must be said that this was more for information only, as by 28
December1900everyonewasbecomingawareoftheunfoldingtragedyontheFlannan
Isles. The final paragraph of the letter states: 'We should have brought this matter un-
der your notice previously, but having been so much occupied by the accident to this
steamer and other affairs, the matter escaped our memory.' 6
Captain Holman's immediate decision after striking the Carphie Rock - to continue
onwards towards the Inchkeith Light and his final destination, Leith - was commended
by the later court of inquiry, but he was severely reprimanded for the incident itself and
warned to be more careful in future. He had come very close to having his Master's
Certificate withdrawn. 7 The Archtor herself was finally sailed around to Sunderland
where the £4,000 worth of damage caused by the collision with the Carphie Rock was
repaired. Despite the problem the Archtor faced, in many ways the vessel and her crew
were fortunate that the problem was not as serious as it could have been - that is, the
complete sinking of the vessel.
The other quarter where an earlier notification of the failure of the light may have
been expected to come from was the NLB's lookout on Gallan Head on Lewis. Just
prior to the official establishment of the Eilean Mor Lighthouse, NLB Superintendent
Robert Muirhead recommended the appointment of Roderick MacKenzie, a gamekeep-
er of Uig. MacKenzie lived in a house near Gallan Head, the closest point on Lewis to
the Eilean Mor Lighthouse. Despite the lighthouse being 20 miles away, it was felt that
it was still the best location for observations of signals from the lighthouse. Muirhead
had met MacKenzie, and his view was that he was an intelligent man and ably assis-
ted by his two sons, who were also gamekeepers. Their skills at deerstalking, which
involved considerable observation ofdistant objects usingglasses, made themideal ob-
servers for the NLB. In a letter dated 27 December 1899, the Board of Trade gave their
approval for Roderick Mackenzie to be appointed at a salary of £8 per annum, with the