On the evening of the 17th of December 1900, almost three weeks BEFORE the Hesperus arrived at the Flannans. Superintendent Robert Muirhead stepped off the east landing of Eilean Mor and climbed into his waiting launch. Having shook hands, and bid farewell, to his colleagues, he now headed out to a larger steam vessel anchored offshore, which would take him back to the mainland. As his small boat made it over the choppy waters he looked back at two of the three men he’d left behind.
They were 43-year-old James Ducat, and 28-year-old Thomas Marshall, and they were standing on the east landing waving to him. The third man, 40-year-old Donald MacArthur, was atop the cliffs, towering above them, manning the lighthouse, as procedure dictated. It was strictly forbidden to leave the light unattended at any time, and so he would not join his colleagues in waving off their supervisor. As Muirhead raised his hand to wave back, not once did the thought cross his mind that he would be the last person to ever see these men again, for when the relief vessel arrived 19 days later, they were nowhere to be found.
