Mystery of the Flannan Isles Lighthouse Part 1

Astonishing Legends

Scott Philbrook

History, Society & Culture

4.6 • 9.8K Ratings

🗓️ 24 June 2018

⏱️ 88 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In 1899, construction on the Flannan Isles lighthouse was completed, perched atop Eilean Mòr, one of the highest points in the Outer Hebrides off the western coast of Scotland. It would soon experience its first tragedy and an enduring mystery. For several days, it's light could not be seen and on December 15, 1900, the ship Archtor documented this concern in its log while heading to port in Leith. However, 11 days would pass before the lighthouse tending ship Hesperus would be able to dock at Eilean Mòr due to foul weather, for which the area is well-known. What they discovered, or rather, didn't discover, would lead to one of the biggest mysteries of this enchanted region. Serious storm damage was evident on the island, but nothing seemed amiss inside the lighthouse itself except for the fact that the three lighthouse keepers had vanished and would never be seen again.

For more information on this episode visit our website!

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	At Enterprise, we tailor our mobility solutions to fit your business needs, whatever they might be.
0:06.3	So whether you need cars by the hour for your sales team,
0:09.4	vans by the week, month or year to get your product shipped,
0:13.1	or a fleet of courtesy vehicles for,
0:16.4	whenever your customers need them, Enterprise have got you covered,
0:20.3	and with more branches in more locations around the world,
0:23.6	where everywhere you need us to be.
0:26.1	Find what you need at enterprise.co.uk.
0:30.0	Tonight's episode of Steimachine Legends is brought to you by the Great Courses Plus,
0:33.4	Squarespace, Mafia, and our contributors at Patreon.
0:38.3	117 years ago, on December 26th of 1900,
0:43.4	the Northern Lighthouse Board, or NLB of Scotland,
0:47.3	said the relief vessel, Hesperus, out to a rock island lighthouse in the flanon aisles
0:52.3	to the island known as Elin Moore, or the Big Island.
0:56.9	The Hesperus was bringing a young, third assistant lightkeeper named Joseph Moore to the island,
1:02.0	along with food and water for him and the two men that would remain after the relieved man returned to shore.
1:08.8	This was not the only reason the Hesperus was headed out, however.
1:12.8	There was a looming question hanging over this journey, and that question was,
1:17.3	why was the light not in operation 11 days ago when a vessel passed by on December 15th?
1:24.2	Third assistant lightkeeper Moore and everyone on board knew the light hadn't been seen for days.
1:30.3	Mr. Moore must have watched anxiously as they approached the island.
1:34.3	The first sign, something was not right at the station, was the fact that the signal flag,
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Scott Philbrook, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Scott Philbrook and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.