The lighthouse on Eilean Mòr, in the Flannan Isles west of Lewis, was first lit in December 1899. A year later, on December 15, 1900, a passing steamer noticed it was dark in poor weather. Storms delayed the relief ship Hesperus until December 26.
When relief keeper Joseph Moore went ashore, there was no flag on the pole and nobody to meet the boat. The gate and door were closed, the beds unmade and the clock stopped. The lamps had been cleaned and refilled, and one set of oilskins was still inside. Keepers James Ducat, Thomas Marshall and Donald McArthur were never found.
Superintendent Robert Muirhead found storm damage at the west landing that was 'difficult to believe unless actually seen'. He concluded that Ducat and Marshall had gone down to the landing and that McArthur had followed in his shirt sleeves, and that all three were probably carried away by an enormous wave. The landing sits in a narrow gully that ends in a cave, where storm waves can surge with great force. Dramatic log entries about crying and praying, often quoted, appear to be later inventions.
