WEBVTT - Selects: The Flannen Isles Mystery 0:00:00.720 --> 0:00:03.600 Hey, everybody, it's me Josham. For this week's select I've 0:00:03.680 --> 0:00:06.840 chosen our episode on the Flann and Isle Mystery from 0:00:07.080 --> 0:00:11.040 November twenty twenty one. This is one of those rare 0:00:11.240 --> 0:00:17.560 instances of a missing person's unsolved mystery disappearance case where 0:00:18.079 --> 0:00:21.320 the people weren't murdered. Well, I almost certainly weren't murdered. 0:00:21.320 --> 0:00:24.280 That is one theory, but it's a lesser theory and 0:00:24.360 --> 0:00:27.480 isn't that refreshing. Hope you enjoy this one even if 0:00:27.520 --> 0:00:36.159 you've heard it before. I can attest it's still good again. Enjoy. 0:00:38.120 --> 0:00:45.880 Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:47.920 --> 0:00:50.760 Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark and 0:00:50.800 --> 0:00:54.280 there's Charles W Chuck Bryant over there, and Jerry's out 0:00:54.280 --> 0:00:57.800 here too, So since the gang's all here, the three 0:00:57.840 --> 0:01:02.240 of us alone on a deserted eye Stuff you should know? 0:01:04.640 --> 0:01:05.960 Can I mention a couple of things here? 0:01:06.160 --> 0:01:07.680 I think you should. 0:01:08.200 --> 0:01:13.160 I want to pre apologize to our Scottish listeners, whom 0:01:13.160 --> 0:01:17.440 we love. We toured in Scotland, had a great time, 0:01:17.640 --> 0:01:20.680 one of our best live shows in the beautiful city 0:01:20.720 --> 0:01:25.520 of Edinburgh. Yes, wonderful people love the Scots, but we 0:01:25.560 --> 0:01:29.520 are going to butcher some of these names, and I apologize. 0:01:29.520 --> 0:01:31.600 That's yeah, we're sorry. 0:01:32.920 --> 0:01:33.720 And what was the other thing? 0:01:33.800 --> 0:01:37.240 Oh, the other thing was it's impossible to talk about 0:01:37.280 --> 0:01:41.880 the Flannon Isles Lighthouse Mystery and research it without almost 0:01:42.120 --> 0:01:44.600 always thinking about the movie The Lighthouse. 0:01:46.360 --> 0:01:48.480 Yeah, and actually it comes up a lot in the 0:01:48.560 --> 0:01:49.320 research too. 0:01:50.160 --> 0:01:50.400 Yeah. 0:01:50.440 --> 0:01:53.720 I think one reason is because it's clear that, oh, 0:01:53.880 --> 0:01:54.960 what's the guy's name he made it. 0:01:55.000 --> 0:01:58.000 I can't think of his name, William Akers. It's not 0:01:58.040 --> 0:02:01.320 William Aker's well, flinnin day Viggers. 0:02:02.120 --> 0:02:05.920 It's an Eggers, right, Yeah, I'm Robert, I think Robert. 0:02:05.960 --> 0:02:08.079 Yes, okay, Robert Eggers, Okay, yes. 0:02:08.440 --> 0:02:12.120 He clearly did his research. And you know, I remember 0:02:12.200 --> 0:02:14.240 when that movie came out. I spoke on the show 0:02:14.240 --> 0:02:16.359 that I wrote a movie, a period movie about a 0:02:16.440 --> 0:02:18.880 lighthouse and a murder that takes place, and then the 0:02:19.200 --> 0:02:20.680 movie The Lighthouse came out, and I was like, so 0:02:20.760 --> 0:02:23.560 much for that. But I did a lot of research 0:02:23.600 --> 0:02:25.600 at the time, and it was clear that Eggers did 0:02:25.600 --> 0:02:29.320 a lot of research because it was a very accurate film, 0:02:29.400 --> 0:02:31.880 especially when you read and research the flann And Isles 0:02:31.960 --> 0:02:32.920 Lighthouse Mystery you're. 0:02:32.840 --> 0:02:34.880 Like, Oh, yeah, that's like from the movie. And that's 0:02:34.919 --> 0:02:35.680 like from the movie. 0:02:35.840 --> 0:02:38.320 Apparently they mentioned it in the movie. I didn't go 0:02:38.400 --> 0:02:40.480 back and watch it again, but I saw something really 0:02:40.520 --> 0:02:43.120 that they may they make a reference to the mystery 0:02:43.160 --> 0:02:43.760 in the movie. 0:02:44.080 --> 0:02:46.079 Oh cool, that's awesome, I thought so too. 0:02:46.200 --> 0:02:48.560 Yeah, man, I can't wait for that Viking movie to 0:02:48.600 --> 0:02:48.960 come out. 0:02:49.760 --> 0:02:50.079 Me too. 0:02:50.280 --> 0:02:52.160 And this made me want to see the lighthouse again, 0:02:52.200 --> 0:02:54.040 which I didn't think I wanted to do, but now 0:02:54.040 --> 0:02:54.280 I do. 0:02:54.480 --> 0:02:54.720 Same. 0:02:54.760 --> 0:02:59.799 Here, so we are talking about one particular lighthouse called 0:02:59.840 --> 0:03:03.120 the flann And Isles Lighthouse, and it was located on 0:03:03.120 --> 0:03:08.360 one island in the Flannin Isles called Island More. That's 0:03:08.400 --> 0:03:13.359 not exactly like Chuck was saying, the Scottish pronunciation scott Gaelic, 0:03:14.400 --> 0:03:17.840 but it's close enough and it actually means in English. 0:03:17.880 --> 0:03:23.320 I guess the More island, right, Okay, So anyway, that's 0:03:23.320 --> 0:03:27.040 where this lighthouse is and it's situated. It's still there today. 0:03:27.080 --> 0:03:30.000 It's automated, though it went automated in nineteen seventy one, 0:03:30.440 --> 0:03:34.360 but it sits Its light is about seventy five feet 0:03:34.639 --> 0:03:37.800 atop the cliff, which is the highest point of island. 0:03:37.800 --> 0:03:41.800 More and that cliff is two hundred feet above sea 0:03:41.920 --> 0:03:45.240 level and it's a pretty good place for a lighthouse 0:03:45.280 --> 0:03:50.400 because this area of Scotland is kind of treacherous for ships. 0:03:51.720 --> 0:03:54.400 Yes, and it's important how high this one was. It 0:03:54.440 --> 0:03:55.440 figures into the story. 0:03:56.560 --> 0:03:58.400 I'm not just showing off with stats here. 0:03:59.720 --> 0:04:02.800 Yeah, it is treacherous. It's a windy area. 0:04:03.520 --> 0:04:05.760 There are big winds in Scotland, especially out there on 0:04:05.800 --> 0:04:08.640 those islands. I think it is close And this is 0:04:08.720 --> 0:04:11.480 kind of funny the name of it, But isn't it 0:04:11.600 --> 0:04:13.960 nearby supposedly the windiest place? 0:04:14.600 --> 0:04:17.240 Is it the windiest place in the UK? And what's 0:04:17.279 --> 0:04:18.920 the name of it? 0:04:19.000 --> 0:04:24.200 The Butt of Lewis. Come on, I'm serious, but it 0:04:24.240 --> 0:04:24.680 makes sense. 0:04:24.920 --> 0:04:25.640 Twelve years old. 0:04:26.200 --> 0:04:31.240 Lewis is a nearby island which is inhabited in the region, 0:04:31.240 --> 0:04:35.360 which is pretty rare I think, But this part of it, 0:04:35.520 --> 0:04:37.920 one end of the island, is called the Butt of 0:04:38.040 --> 0:04:40.120 Lewis Island and it's the windiest part. 0:04:40.640 --> 0:04:43.280 The Butt of Lewis is the windiest island right. 0:04:43.760 --> 0:04:47.880 So the area that these flann And Isles are in 0:04:47.960 --> 0:04:50.440 so Island More is in the Flannin Isles. The flann 0:04:50.440 --> 0:04:53.560 And Isles are part of the larger island chain on 0:04:53.640 --> 0:04:57.800 the northwest of Scotland called the Outer Hebrides, and to 0:04:57.839 --> 0:05:00.440 the west of them, you can just keep going and 0:05:00.480 --> 0:05:03.240 going and going, and then you'll finally reach North America. 0:05:04.080 --> 0:05:07.600 They're pretty remote, they're pretty isolated. They are indeed windy, 0:05:07.839 --> 0:05:10.520 and like we were saying, the seeds are kind of 0:05:10.600 --> 0:05:13.919 rough around there. I think that's kind of putting it mildly. Plus, 0:05:13.960 --> 0:05:17.440 the islands themselves are often very rocky and jagged and 0:05:17.480 --> 0:05:19.440 so it's treacherous. So of course you'd want to put 0:05:19.440 --> 0:05:20.280 a lighthouse there. 0:05:20.920 --> 0:05:23.520 Well, yeah, the winds blow strong from the butt of Lewis. 0:05:24.080 --> 0:05:27.359 But the lighthouse that was built there finally on Island 0:05:27.400 --> 0:05:32.320 More wasn't installed until eighteen ninety nine, which is kind 0:05:32.360 --> 0:05:35.480 of late considering that Scotland had something called the Northern 0:05:35.560 --> 0:05:39.240 Lighthouse Board that they organized in seventeen eighty six to 0:05:39.360 --> 0:05:43.279 basically oversee and standardize lighthouse keeping in that country. 0:05:44.000 --> 0:05:48.440 Yeah, so they were headquartered there in Edinburgh. And here's 0:05:48.480 --> 0:05:50.280 how it worked at the time. And this checks out 0:05:50.320 --> 0:05:52.800 according to my research. When I was writing my movie 0:05:52.839 --> 0:05:57.120 and the movie The Lighthouse, Oh and Xicot they were staff. 0:05:57.400 --> 0:06:00.640 You had your principal lightkeeper called the principal keeper, and 0:06:00.680 --> 0:06:03.400 then usually depending on you know, where the lighthouse was, 0:06:03.440 --> 0:06:06.400 how busy it was, how big it was, and as 0:06:06.400 --> 0:06:09.960 far as needed personnel for operation, you had one or 0:06:10.000 --> 0:06:14.600 two assistants, and they were all ranked as you know, 0:06:14.760 --> 0:06:16.680 you weren't just like, oh, I'll be the first keeper 0:06:16.680 --> 0:06:18.960 this week, like you earned that spot. Yeah, it was 0:06:19.000 --> 0:06:23.000 a promotion. And then you were assigned to these stations 0:06:23.000 --> 0:06:25.640 by the board. Just like in the movie. You don't 0:06:25.680 --> 0:06:28.120 stay there forever. You kind of rotate and you go 0:06:28.200 --> 0:06:31.080 there for a little while, and you may get stationed 0:06:31.080 --> 0:06:33.240 with someone you've never worked with before, and you have 0:06:33.279 --> 0:06:35.800 to get to know that person very intimately over the 0:06:35.800 --> 0:06:38.040 course of you know, a short period of time, or 0:06:38.520 --> 0:06:40.640 it's somebody you have worked with before and you're old 0:06:40.720 --> 0:06:44.799 friends with maybe or old enemies, yeah, exactly, or old enemies. 0:06:45.160 --> 0:06:49.640 So aside from these two to three people as principles 0:06:50.000 --> 0:06:52.880 and assistants, you had what was called the occasional keeper, 0:06:53.360 --> 0:06:57.120 and this is someone who actually lived nearby, either an 0:06:57.120 --> 0:07:00.400 inhabited island resident or if it was uninhabited, if it 0:07:00.440 --> 0:07:03.040 was at least close enough to where they could get 0:07:03.040 --> 0:07:05.880 there easily and they would help out during the day, 0:07:05.880 --> 0:07:07.360 but they would go home at night and sleep and 0:07:07.400 --> 0:07:09.320 stuff in their own betty bye. 0:07:09.360 --> 0:07:11.680 And that was the standard. But for a place like 0:07:12.320 --> 0:07:15.160 Island More, where the Flann and Isle's Lighthouse was located, 0:07:15.920 --> 0:07:18.200 if you were an occasional, you were there for two weeks. 0:07:18.320 --> 0:07:20.240 That's how hard it was to get to the island 0:07:20.440 --> 0:07:23.360 and how hard it was to get off of the island. 0:07:24.080 --> 0:07:26.760 So the purpose of the occasional was to give two 0:07:26.760 --> 0:07:29.680 weeks rest off to one of the other two or 0:07:29.680 --> 0:07:34.920 three people who were permanently temporarily stationed there for much 0:07:34.960 --> 0:07:35.600 longer than. 0:07:35.520 --> 0:07:38.720 You, right, And then those cases, the keeper the occasional 0:07:38.800 --> 0:07:40.440 does not go home and sleep right. 0:07:41.160 --> 0:07:45.160 So one of the things that stuck out to meet 0:07:45.240 --> 0:07:48.600 Chuck was that, you know, when you think about lighthouse keeping, like, yes, 0:07:48.680 --> 0:07:50.480 the person has to live there, and it's a lot 0:07:50.480 --> 0:07:52.240 of work and they have to attend to the light 0:07:52.280 --> 0:07:58.120 and everything. But I think lighthouse keepers are very frequently 0:07:59.520 --> 0:08:05.800 portray is weirdos. Yeah, just complete alcoholics who can't do 0:08:06.000 --> 0:08:09.280 anything else but live by themselves, almost like they're placed 0:08:09.320 --> 0:08:13.560 there because there's nothing else for them to contribute to society. 0:08:13.920 --> 0:08:16.960 So they're kind of cast off for ostracized. That's not 0:08:17.040 --> 0:08:19.160 the case, at least not in Scotland. That was not 0:08:19.280 --> 0:08:21.320 the case. Like, if you were a lighthouse keeper, that 0:08:21.400 --> 0:08:25.760 was a very very important job. You took it very 0:08:25.880 --> 0:08:29.920 very seriously, so much so that there was a study 0:08:29.960 --> 0:08:34.280 that found between eighteen fifty and nineteen hundred, fifty years, 0:08:34.760 --> 0:08:39.920 there were only fifteen recorded instances of a lighthouse keeper 0:08:40.000 --> 0:08:42.560 falling asleep at their post, which was about as bad 0:08:42.559 --> 0:08:44.160 as it gets as a lighthouse keeper. 0:08:45.080 --> 0:08:45.440 Yeah. 0:08:45.640 --> 0:08:47.280 I mean that's not to say there weren't drunks and 0:08:47.320 --> 0:08:50.800 myths andthropes here and there. Maybe those are the fifteen. 0:08:51.520 --> 0:08:53.960 Yes, But I did a little more further math, Chuck, 0:08:54.000 --> 0:08:57.680 if I may be so indulged as to share it. 0:08:57.679 --> 0:08:59.920 I saw that. I thought that was pretty funny. 0:08:59.760 --> 0:09:02.160 So get this. Let's say you have about one hundred 0:09:02.160 --> 0:09:06.120 and fifty lighthouses in operation between eighteen fifty and nineteen hundred, 0:09:07.240 --> 0:09:10.200 and if you calculate that number of lighthouses times the 0:09:10.320 --> 0:09:14.679 number of nights that occurred over that fifty years in Scotland, 0:09:14.720 --> 0:09:18.360 you have what we'll call two point seventy five million 0:09:18.840 --> 0:09:23.439 lighthouse nights. Out of those two point seventy five million 0:09:23.720 --> 0:09:27.840 lighthouse nights in Scotland over those fifty years, only fifteen 0:09:27.920 --> 0:09:31.880 of those nights found a lighthouse keeper asleep on duty. 0:09:32.080 --> 0:09:33.560 That's how seriously they took it. 0:09:34.080 --> 0:09:35.480 Did you account for leap years? 0:09:36.000 --> 0:09:41.680 Oh, Chuck, I just really wanted to drive that home. Man. 0:09:41.760 --> 0:09:43.920 I really thought that was an important point and it 0:09:43.920 --> 0:09:47.439 didn't come across with fifteen instances of fifty years. 0:09:47.920 --> 0:09:51.160 Who cares, no, I mean it's a big deal because 0:09:51.240 --> 0:09:53.680 you know, the purpose of a lighthouse I guess we 0:09:54.720 --> 0:09:58.040 have not really said, is to light the way around 0:09:58.160 --> 0:10:01.080 rocky shores and islands. Boats don't run into them. 0:10:01.320 --> 0:10:03.760 Yeah, unless you've been living under a rocky shore, you 0:10:03.840 --> 0:10:05.440 know that it's. 0:10:05.280 --> 0:10:06.440 A very important job. Though. 0:10:07.200 --> 0:10:09.480 I love lighthouses. We've talked about him quite a few 0:10:09.480 --> 0:10:12.640 times on the show, Big Big Fan. Every time I 0:10:12.840 --> 0:10:15.480 am near a lighthouse, I will do my best to 0:10:15.520 --> 0:10:16.760 climb that thing if it's allowed. 0:10:17.120 --> 0:10:23.000 So who'd done it? In your lighthouse mystery? 0:10:23.120 --> 0:10:25.360 Who did do it? It was a good story. 0:10:25.400 --> 0:10:27.400 Actually, well, then maybe you should hang on to it 0:10:27.440 --> 0:10:29.320 in case somebody comes along, because it's not like The 0:10:29.400 --> 0:10:33.040 Lighthouse is the only lighthouse movie you ever made. 0:10:33.240 --> 0:10:34.520 Yeah. 0:10:34.679 --> 0:10:38.960 The briefest synopsis is it's two sisters who are tending 0:10:38.960 --> 0:10:41.439 the lighthouse because it was their family job and their 0:10:41.440 --> 0:10:44.520 parents died there. So it's these two sort of like 0:10:44.559 --> 0:10:46.840 a like maybe a twenty year old and a sixteen 0:10:46.920 --> 0:10:49.880 year old out there alone in this island. And then 0:10:49.880 --> 0:10:52.120 these two men wash ashore one day in a shipwreck, 0:10:52.760 --> 0:10:56.720 and they tell the awful story of their ship going down, 0:10:57.400 --> 0:11:00.720 and it turns out that the real story as they 0:11:00.760 --> 0:11:05.679 were prisoners aboard a ship being transferred and they escaped 0:11:05.720 --> 0:11:08.800 their shackles and murdered everyone aboard. Wow, and then there 0:11:08.840 --> 0:11:11.160 was a shipwreck. So they were bad guys who got 0:11:11.200 --> 0:11:11.800 washed ashore. 0:11:12.160 --> 0:11:15.679 Oh, it's a bit like a reverse dead calm. 0:11:15.040 --> 0:11:17.600 Sort of, and they charmed the girls. But there is 0:11:17.840 --> 0:11:19.800 I guess I didn't know the name was an occasional keeper. 0:11:19.800 --> 0:11:22.000 There's a guy that lives one guy that lives on 0:11:22.040 --> 0:11:24.200 the island that helps them out that is sort of 0:11:24.200 --> 0:11:26.319 suspicious of the guys, and it sort of plays out 0:11:26.360 --> 0:11:29.079 over the course of the movie where they're exposed ending 0:11:29.120 --> 0:11:32.560 in a game of cat and mouse. One night nice 0:11:32.920 --> 0:11:35.920 and I actually remember how it actually it was, Okay, 0:11:36.280 --> 0:11:39.400 I mean I did it as an experiment because all 0:11:39.400 --> 0:11:42.080 I've ever written is comedy, and I thought, hey, maybe 0:11:42.120 --> 0:11:45.960 I'll write a serious thriller and it could be better 0:11:46.000 --> 0:11:48.040 if a really good thriller writer got a hold of it, 0:11:48.080 --> 0:11:48.559 I think. 0:11:48.400 --> 0:11:51.880 But were there's still like little jokes peppered as a sides, 0:11:51.960 --> 0:11:54.000 like one of the sisters is running from the murderer 0:11:54.080 --> 0:11:56.560 and says to herself, I left the mainland for this, 0:11:59.400 --> 0:12:01.280 like you're he shines through Still. 0:12:02.040 --> 0:12:04.600 Oh, I don't know. I'll have to dust that thing off. 0:12:04.720 --> 0:12:07.120 You should, man, it sounds like a good one, thank you. 0:12:07.600 --> 0:12:10.840 So this lighthouse back to the flann And Isles lighthouse 0:12:10.840 --> 0:12:14.160 on island more like we said that most of the 0:12:14.200 --> 0:12:16.880 Outer Hebrides are uninhabited. I think we said that, didn't we? 0:12:17.920 --> 0:12:19.400 Uh, I don't know, but you just said it then. 0:12:19.679 --> 0:12:22.040 I think there's seventy islands in the Outer Hebrides and 0:12:22.080 --> 0:12:24.920 only fifteen of them are populated, and Island More is 0:12:24.960 --> 0:12:28.040 definitely not one of them. The only remote, it is 0:12:28.280 --> 0:12:32.120 extremely remote. The only people, the only beings that live 0:12:32.200 --> 0:12:36.680 there what you would recognize as a genuine normal being 0:12:36.800 --> 0:12:40.600 as opposed to say paranormal, which we'll get into, are 0:12:40.840 --> 0:12:45.440 the lighthouse keepers and some sheep. Even the people whose sheep. 0:12:45.960 --> 0:12:49.040 Those are don't live on the island or even stay 0:12:49.040 --> 0:12:51.120 there overnight. They go out a few times a year 0:12:51.520 --> 0:12:55.280 check on the sheep, and then leave before nightfall. That's 0:12:55.400 --> 0:12:58.280 kind of how Island Moore is viewed. It seemed kind 0:12:58.320 --> 0:13:02.280 of as a place where maybe gods or ghosts or 0:13:02.960 --> 0:13:07.160 just something otherworldly lives on island more according to the locals. 0:13:07.440 --> 0:13:10.720 According to lore written about the locals, I've never spoken 0:13:10.760 --> 0:13:13.000 to an outer Hebridian. Yeah. 0:13:13.040 --> 0:13:14.760 And I think the other thing we need to mention too, 0:13:14.800 --> 0:13:17.719 because I believe it comes up later in one of 0:13:17.760 --> 0:13:20.920 the supernatural explanations for what is to come here with 0:13:20.960 --> 0:13:26.520 this mystery is the name Saint Flannin comes from the 0:13:26.559 --> 0:13:29.199 fact that Island Moore was the site of a chapel 0:13:29.800 --> 0:13:32.439 in the seventh century built by a traveling Irish monk 0:13:32.880 --> 0:13:34.720 who eventually became Saint Flannin. 0:13:35.280 --> 0:13:36.800 And that's going to come up. Just put a pin 0:13:36.800 --> 0:13:37.000 in that. 0:13:37.480 --> 0:13:39.840 It's a big time pin. Hang on to it, Okay? 0:13:40.840 --> 0:13:42.360 Is that a good setup? Should we take a break? 0:13:42.400 --> 0:13:44.800 I think so, man, all right, we'll come back with 0:13:44.880 --> 0:14:16.120 more spooky lighthouse mystery stuff right up to this, all. 0:14:16.080 --> 0:14:21.160 Right, So we should probably mention the steamship actor or 0:14:21.480 --> 0:14:26.560 arched actor. I've seen it both ways, but that kind 0:14:26.600 --> 0:14:29.200 of kicks off the story for us, don't you think. 0:14:29.880 --> 0:14:32.200 Yeah, well, we haven't mentioned the major players either yet, 0:14:32.240 --> 0:14:32.520 have we. 0:14:32.960 --> 0:14:35.280 No? No, I guess we could go either way. We 0:14:35.320 --> 0:14:36.480 can mention one or the other. 0:14:36.560 --> 0:14:38.920 First, all right, let's mention the players, because these are 0:14:38.960 --> 0:14:42.920 the actual keepers of that lighthouse. You had the principal keeper, 0:14:43.720 --> 0:14:46.560 James Ducatt, You had the second assistant. 0:14:47.880 --> 0:14:49.400 Wouldn't he be the first assistant though? 0:14:49.520 --> 0:14:52.160 No, Donald MacArthur, We'll get into that. 0:14:52.480 --> 0:14:56.480 Okay, Thomas Marshall was the second assistant, and then Donald 0:14:57.320 --> 0:14:58.960 MacArthur was the occasional right. 0:14:59.040 --> 0:15:02.000 Here's my bit. So he was filling in for a 0:15:02.000 --> 0:15:06.200 guy named William Ross. William Ross was the first assistant keeper, 0:15:06.240 --> 0:15:08.720 which meant that since Donald MacArthur was filling in for him, 0:15:08.920 --> 0:15:12.080 Donald MacArthur was the first assistant keeper, even though he 0:15:12.120 --> 0:15:13.360 was an occasional keeper. 0:15:13.920 --> 0:15:16.000 Okay, that makes sense. And William Ross was on sick 0:15:16.080 --> 0:15:19.000 leave and just judging from the movie The Lighthouse and 0:15:19.280 --> 0:15:21.560 all this research, like you must have had to been 0:15:21.640 --> 0:15:24.400 really sick to get taken off the island. 0:15:24.840 --> 0:15:28.240 Yes, but I think yes, that's what I thought too, 0:15:28.280 --> 0:15:31.200 But doing research for this, I found that these guys 0:15:31.440 --> 0:15:35.880 had all of them had a rotating two weeks off. 0:15:36.520 --> 0:15:39.280 So at any given point over a stretch of two weeks, 0:15:39.560 --> 0:15:43.200 one of those men, James Ducott, Thomas Marshall or William 0:15:43.280 --> 0:15:47.840 Ross would not be on the island because they rotated 0:15:48.200 --> 0:15:51.640 two week shore leave basically. So I yeah, I was 0:15:51.640 --> 0:15:54.320 of the impression that if you went and tended a lighthouse, 0:15:54.600 --> 0:15:56.920 they dropped you off, left you with some food and 0:15:56.960 --> 0:15:58.200 said see you never. 0:16:00.040 --> 0:16:00.880 But that's not the case. 0:16:01.320 --> 0:16:03.800 No, No, I think they were well taken care of. 0:16:03.840 --> 0:16:05.960 I get the impression of the Northern Lighthouse Board was 0:16:06.000 --> 0:16:08.640 pretty good at its job and really cared about these 0:16:08.680 --> 0:16:12.080 people and looked after them. I didn't see anything to 0:16:13.920 --> 0:16:14.560 deny that. 0:16:15.040 --> 0:16:17.880 Yeah, well it's a brutal and important job, so surely 0:16:18.000 --> 0:16:19.520 that they were taking care of at least to a 0:16:19.520 --> 0:16:20.080 certain degree. 0:16:20.200 --> 0:16:20.440 Yeah. 0:16:20.440 --> 0:16:22.080 But the upshot of all this is that there were 0:16:22.080 --> 0:16:25.359 three men on the island, three dudes working that lighthouse, 0:16:25.600 --> 0:16:28.040 and aside from some sheep, that was it, that was 0:16:28.400 --> 0:16:30.880 the only people on the island. And this, by the way, 0:16:31.200 --> 0:16:34.000 this is December of nineteen hundred, right. 0:16:34.360 --> 0:16:35.680 Yeah, so this thing is brand new. 0:16:36.240 --> 0:16:39.040 Yeah, they built it in eighteen ninety nine. That was 0:16:39.080 --> 0:16:42.320 scheduled to take two years. It took four years. The 0:16:42.360 --> 0:16:45.160 construction was started in eighteen ninety five, and what they 0:16:45.160 --> 0:16:48.440 built was at the time a state of the art lighthouse. 0:16:48.840 --> 0:16:51.000 But it took so long. It took twice as long 0:16:51.000 --> 0:16:55.360 as they anticipated because the cliffs and the island itself 0:16:55.440 --> 0:16:58.160 was so treacherous. That's how long it took just to 0:16:58.360 --> 0:17:01.479 get materials up the cliff to build the lighthouse. 0:17:02.320 --> 0:17:02.640 Yeah. 0:17:02.840 --> 0:17:06.600 So it's finally in operation, and then now comes the actor, 0:17:06.680 --> 0:17:10.480 which is what you mentioned earlier, not act R, but 0:17:10.600 --> 0:17:13.000 the actor, aht er. 0:17:13.320 --> 0:17:17.439 Yeah. It was a Transatlantic steamship from Philadelphia to Leith, 0:17:17.560 --> 0:17:19.679 which is a port for Edinburgh. 0:17:20.200 --> 0:17:20.600 That's right. 0:17:20.640 --> 0:17:22.280 So they were out there. I was about to say 0:17:22.280 --> 0:17:25.440 sailing around, but I guess they were steaming around and 0:17:25.960 --> 0:17:29.120 they waited out of storm for a few days. And 0:17:29.160 --> 0:17:31.960 then this part got confusing to me. 0:17:32.280 --> 0:17:36.520 So the actor was passing by flann And Isles. It 0:17:36.560 --> 0:17:41.560 passed by on December fifteenth, and the actor noticed that 0:17:41.600 --> 0:17:43.439 the light was out, not that they couldn't see the 0:17:43.520 --> 0:17:45.439 light because of weather or anything like that. Like the 0:17:45.520 --> 0:17:48.760 light was straight up, not lit on the lighthouse on 0:17:48.840 --> 0:17:51.760 flann and Isle's lighthouse like that. It was a very 0:17:51.800 --> 0:17:55.520 strange thing to see and it was very noteworthy. They 0:17:55.600 --> 0:17:58.239 ran into some weather on their way to Leith and 0:17:58.440 --> 0:18:00.639 had to wait it out for a few days, and 0:18:00.680 --> 0:18:03.440 when they finally made it into port, I guess they 0:18:03.480 --> 0:18:07.879 passed the information along, but the Northern Lighthouse Board didn't 0:18:07.920 --> 0:18:11.640 catch wing of it until the official relief supply ship 0:18:12.520 --> 0:18:16.120 showed up a few days later, and the actor's observation 0:18:16.240 --> 0:18:18.320 that the light was out wouldn't come into play until 0:18:18.359 --> 0:18:20.359 an investigation was launched later on. 0:18:21.119 --> 0:18:25.640 Right, So that relief ship was the Hesperus hgsp r Us, 0:18:26.400 --> 0:18:32.480 and that arrived on December twenty sixth, nineteen hundred, which 0:18:32.520 --> 0:18:33.960 was Boxing day after Christmas. 0:18:34.600 --> 0:18:36.320 And what these. 0:18:36.119 --> 0:18:41.040 Ships brought was they usually brought either supplies or fresh 0:18:41.160 --> 0:18:44.239 dudes or both, and in this case I think they 0:18:44.240 --> 0:18:47.760 had supplies and a fresh lighthouse keeper. And it was 0:18:48.119 --> 0:18:53.160 captained by Captain Harvey, and they were like, all right, 0:18:53.320 --> 0:18:56.200 something's going on here. This light's out, the flag's not flying. 0:18:56.680 --> 0:19:00.200 Let me toot on the horn a few times. Nobody 0:19:00.240 --> 0:19:02.439 comes out. They're all right, well, let me send up 0:19:02.480 --> 0:19:04.960 a flare they send up a flare. No one comes out, 0:19:05.359 --> 0:19:08.160 and what they're trying to do is say, hey, we're here, 0:19:08.680 --> 0:19:12.359 get you little your little railcar system going. It had 0:19:12.400 --> 0:19:16.280 a little cable a little cable pulled railroad system that 0:19:16.520 --> 0:19:19.919 was operated by a steam engine and a shack, and 0:19:20.000 --> 0:19:21.960 so when the hip pulls up, they would toot the 0:19:21.960 --> 0:19:24.600 horn and the dudes would come down and they would 0:19:24.800 --> 0:19:27.200 get that steam engine going and get that cable car 0:19:27.240 --> 0:19:30.439 ready to transfer the goods onto this thing. So they 0:19:30.440 --> 0:19:32.240 could you know, it's like hundreds of pounds of stuff 0:19:32.240 --> 0:19:34.160 going up a really really steep cliff side. 0:19:34.240 --> 0:19:37.000 Yeah, there's just no way to move that stuff. Otherwise, no, 0:19:37.119 --> 0:19:37.800 you'd have to do it. 0:19:37.840 --> 0:19:41.640 So nobody came out, no one gets that steam shack going, 0:19:42.480 --> 0:19:45.720 and they're like, all right, something's going on. We're gonna 0:19:45.720 --> 0:19:47.720 have to go on land and figure this out. 0:19:47.920 --> 0:19:50.240 Yeah, And just the fact that they weren't greeted by 0:19:50.960 --> 0:19:53.200 one or more of the guys from the lighthouse, which 0:19:53.240 --> 0:19:58.320 is apparently custom, like even the most grizzled misanthrope lighthouse 0:19:58.400 --> 0:20:01.240 keeper just knew it was to come down and greet 0:20:01.240 --> 0:20:02.000 the relief ship. 0:20:02.200 --> 0:20:04.800 You're still dying to see someone else. Pretty much, I think, so. 0:20:05.080 --> 0:20:07.880 Yeah. So that like the fact that no one showed 0:20:07.960 --> 0:20:10.080 up and then no one responded to their signals. They 0:20:10.080 --> 0:20:12.600 were like, something really weird is going on here. And 0:20:12.680 --> 0:20:16.320 they had Joseph Moore who was the relieving keeper, which 0:20:16.359 --> 0:20:19.240 makes me think that William Ross was really really sick 0:20:19.320 --> 0:20:22.240 because he would have been on sick leave for way 0:20:22.320 --> 0:20:24.960 over two weeks by this side, because I believe the 0:20:25.040 --> 0:20:28.760 relief ship was five days late because of weather, so 0:20:28.920 --> 0:20:31.040 he must have really been laid up. And they sent 0:20:31.080 --> 0:20:36.680 another relieving keeper, Joseph Moore instead, and Joseph Moore went 0:20:36.720 --> 0:20:38.720 ashore and he was friends with these guys. He wasn't 0:20:38.720 --> 0:20:40.439 some new dude or anything like that. So he was 0:20:40.520 --> 0:20:43.480 genuinely concerned. And he went up the steps to the 0:20:43.560 --> 0:20:46.920 lighthouse there's apparently one hundred and sixty of them, and 0:20:47.640 --> 0:20:50.400 he just knew right away that something was way off. 0:20:50.560 --> 0:20:54.120 There was no sign of life, there was nobody around, 0:20:54.240 --> 0:20:59.679 there was the just nothing was going on. It was abandoned, basically, 0:21:00.119 --> 0:21:02.280 and he didn't have a very good feeling about it. 0:21:02.280 --> 0:21:04.200 So he runs back down to the boat to say, 0:21:04.480 --> 0:21:06.000 I think we have a problem here. 0:21:06.680 --> 0:21:08.800 Yes, so he says, I think we have a problem. 0:21:09.200 --> 0:21:12.600