Case #6 · Easy
The Gale at Skaddan Rock
Skaddan Rock Lighthouse, Outer Hebrides · November 12, 1936
A violent Atlantic gale batters the isolated granite tower of Skaddan Rock, twenty miles off the Scottish coast. At a quarter past eleven, the assistant keeper descends from the lantern room and finds Principal Keeper Angus McTavish dead on the floor of the service room, his skull crushed by a heavy tool.
The victim
Angus McTavish
58. Principal Keeper of Skaddan Rock for fifteen years. A legendary disciplinarian of the Northern Lighthouse Board who tolerated no irregularities and ran the station like a warship.
- Scene of the crime
- Service room
- Estimated time of death
- between 22:40 and 23:10
The suspects
Donald Bain
Second Keeper
45. A rugged veteran of the Northern Lighthouse Board with twenty years of service on offshore rocks. Silent, gruff, and notoriously protective of his routine.
“I was down in the engine room through the worst of the gale, tending the fires and checking the machinery. I never set foot above the ground floor until Calum started screaming from the tower. Angus and I had our differences, but I had no reason to harm him.”
Calum Brody
Assistant Keeper
24. In his first year of lighthouse service after leaving the fishing fleet. High-strung, nervous in heavy weather, and frequently scolded by Angus for slackness.
“I had the watch in the lantern room from ten o'clock onwards, keeping the optic revolving. I never left my station until my relief at a quarter past eleven, when I walked down into the service room and found Mr. McTavish lying in the dark.”
Fiona McTavish
Victim's daughter and station cook
26. Kept house and cooked for the keepers on the rock after her mother passed. Devoted but exhausted by her father's rigid discipline and isolation.
“I spent the entire evening in the kitchen by the warmth of the range, boiling broth and preparing hot tea for the watch. I kept my head down with my chores and heard only the roaring wind outside.”
Hamish Ross
Superintendent Inspector
48. An official from the Northern Lighthouse Board in Edinburgh, stranded on Skaddan Rock when the gale prevented the tender from taking him off. Fastidious and uncompromising.
“I was confined to the radio room reviewing official station logs until the alarm was raised. My inspection here has been strictly administrative, and I had no personal quarrel with Principal Keeper McTavish.”