ON THE ROCK

Those of us who live on Coll, good sailors or not, can justifiably claim to have a greater acquaintance with the sea than most of the inhabitants of the British Isles. After all, we have no choice but to travel here by boat.

However, even with our greater experience, we will no doubt find it difficult to imagine what life must have been like as a lighthouse keeper - especially on Skerryvore Rock, fourteen miles from nearest landfall, where Gordon MacDonald worked as an assistant local lighthouse keeper from 1973 until 1980.

Skerryvore Rock lies out in the teeth of the Atlantic gales to the south west of Tiree. A mile long reef of jagged pointed rocks over which the swell breaks on all but the calmest of days, it is an inhospitable and treacherous rock.

The lighthouse was designed and built by Alan Stevenson of the famous family of engineers, and it has withstood heavy seas and strong winds for 150 years.

From the seven years that he worked on the lighthouse, Gordon can testify to the solidity of its construction: as gale force winds raged around them and waves crashed halfway up the sides of the lighthouse he claims never to have felt it move, adding that "if it were to fall, it would fall like a bottle."

Only once when lightning struck, as it did frequently during winter storms, did all three keepers feel the tower vibrate. On inspection the next morning they discovered that the copper conducting rod had been dramatically sheared through near the base of the tower.

The lighthouse keepers worked in teams of three, spending one month at the lighthouse, then one month at home. A helicopter landed on Coll to take Gordon directly to the lighthouse where both men and stores were winched down into a 'cradle', twenty six feet above the breaking sea.

This was often hazardous: once, during a storm, Gordon was in the helicopter as it circled the light, waiting for the right moment to make the descent. When the opportunity came and Gordon had landed on the cradle, a wave swept him off his feet and into the water below. Fortunately he landed in a deep hole in the rock and was able to scramble to safety however the food supplies for the next month were all washed away.

Everything that was necessary for the running of the lighthouse and the well-being of the keepers had to be brought in by helicopter or boat. This even included water, although they did try to collect rainwater.

The keepers were principally responsible for the care and maintenance of the engines which generated the power to illuminate the light and sound the foghorn. They also had to man the radio, alert to any messages from the coastguard or police.

Real emergencies were a very rare occurence, thankfully. A daily weather record was kept and the foghorn had to be activated when visibility became low.

Within the lighthouse, daily life went on with meticulous efficiency. There were three shifts, each man taking a share of the cooking. "Meals", says Gordon, "were taken very seriously". If you didn't know how to cook you very soon learnt.

Days were spent polishing and cleaning. Periodically, larger maintenance jobs were undertaken. One such job was to paint the copper dome at the very top of the lighthouse. To do this keepers had to scale the outside of the light. All lighthouse keepers were expected to have a good head for heights.

The limitations of the rock meant that hours off duty could not be spent going for leisurely walks. Instead, the men pursued hobbies and many of them were skilled craftsmen. Lack of exercise was not a problem either: there are twelve levels in the lighthouse with a heavy fire door to push up between each level.

Often, during times of bird migrations, the keepers would be sitting inside the lighthouse and all that could be heard was the 'thump, thump' of birds flying into the side of the lighthouse. In the morning the dead birds would have to he scraped away and shovelled off the balcony Geese, redwing, woodcock and snipe were all seen at Skerryvore. One morning, fourteen geese were found stuck on the balcony: the impact had not killed them, so the keepers lifted them up and sent them on their way.

The Skerryvore light is now fully automated and Gordon is one of only a handful of men who have experienced the isolation of life on that jagged reef - something not easily forgotten.

A McVey.