AFTERMATH - The Lighthouse - page 69

by a minister of the Church. He describes his trip out to the lighthouse in the Hesperus
and being shown around by James Ducat who returned to Breasclete with him in the
Hesperus. Ducat had returned to Breasclete with the minister for his leave ashore. In a
poignant note which was similar to the comment made at the end of Muirhead's report
about the men's fate, the minister wrote:
We took Ducat off with us that afternoon as it was his turn ashore, and I last saw him
thesameevening,asIcanseehimnow,atthegateofhishouse,gladtobeoncemoreat
homewithwifeandchildren.Hewasamostcivilandpleasantman,andIlittlethought
there was such a tragedy in store for him and his brave comrades on outpost duty. 21
Hefinishedhisarticle withadescriptionofthe Hesperus makingherwaybacktoOban
fromBreascleteendingwith:'Alas!Therewillalwaysnowbeasadnessconnectedwith
thoughts of the Flannan Islands and their first lighthouse keepers.' 22
It was almost inevitable in the aftermath of the disaster that attention would immedi-
ately focus on the signalling and why it apparently had not been noticed that there was
no operational light for at least eleven days. It could have been expected that some sort
ofblamemayhaveattacheditselftogamekeeperRoderickMacKenzie,butthiswasnot
the case. On 9 July 1901, Robert Muirhead wrote a report for the Lighthouse Commis-
sioners regarding signalling arrangements. In the report he stated that from February to
November 1900, no assistance of any kind had been required as no signals had been
exhibited by the lightkeepers on Eilean Mor. It was therefore difficult to tell, owing to
the visibility, that had a signal been shown whether it would have been seen by Rod-
erick Mackenzie or his sons. Mackenzie had been instructed to keep a record of which
days he could see the tower and the light and which days both could not be seen ( see
Appendix II). Muirhead stated that the tower had been seen on 146 days and not seen
on 219 days and that he was of the opinion that if the signals had been put up on any
of the days that the tower could be seen, then the signals would most likely have been
observable. He made the very good point that after the disaster there was nobody left to
put up any kind of a signal, and that it was not until the Hesperus arrived that anybody
realised anything was wrong. Muirhead wished to be seen to give Mackenzie the bene-
fit of any doubt and stated: 'I am of opinion that the present system of signalling has
not as yet been fairly and properly tested.' 23
Muirhead then went on to suggest that Mackenzie be employed for a further twelve
months and that the lightkeepers should put up the signal 'Send Boat' two days before
the relief was due to be made. This was so that even if the signal could not be seen, the
NLB would be aware that a signal was present, even if the observers could not see it.
From this the NLB could work out how often the light was not visible due to the haze
over the island and thereby judge properly how efficient the system was. Muirhead was