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Something to read... The Flannan Isles Mystery |
The lighthouse on the largest of the Flannan Isles, "outposts of the Atlantic" some
twenty miles west of Gallen Head, the westernmost point of Lewis, from which
three keepers inexplicably disappeared in December, 1900 "Though three men dwell on Flannan Isle To keep the lamp alight, As we steered under the lee we caught No glimmer through the night..." W. W. Gibson's poem "Flannan Isle" celebrated the tragic mystery and Cuimhnich marked its centenary with a number of special articles, including "Keeper of the Light" (click access link left) for here, in |
East Loch Roag, we have a special relationship with the lighthouse on Eilean Ṃr,
the largest of the Seven Hunters, as the Flannan Isles are traditionally known.
Many of us helped to build the lighthouse between 1896-99 (it could be Iain a' Ph́obair's horse, of 30 Breasclete, being lifted ashore in the
silhouette picture); one of us was lost in the tragedy of December, 1900, yet many of us even after
that continued to act as keepers. The relief ship used to sail from Breasclete
pier, and-closest tie of all-the Flannan Isles Shore Station was here in Breasclete
until the lighthouse was automated in 1971 and it was no longer needed to
house the keepers' families. |
Landing supplies - or anything - was a problem; steps were made from the landing,
and later rails, but what couldn't be back-packed (like horses and building materials)
had to be winched up. |
