On 26 December 1900 the relief vessel Hesperus reached the light on Eilean Mòr, 32 km west of Lewis, and found nobody there. Three keepers, James Ducat, Thomas Marshall and Donald McArthur, were gone. The lamps were cleaned and refilled, the beds unmade, the clock unwound, and one set of oilskins still hanging up, which means one man went out into that weather without them. The flag was off the pole and the provision boxes for restocking were missing. Superintendent Robert Muirhead concluded they had gone to the west landing to secure gear in a storm and an extra large sea had rushed up the face of the rock and swept them away. The oilskins are why the story will not die. Landing is difficult and weather-dependent; boat operators run trips from Lewis.
Eilean Mòr, Outer Hebrides, Scotland
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