An entry in the Register of the Privy Council for the year 1577 not only
bears out de Beaugué's statement with regard to the presence of pirates
about the May, but it also suggests the complicity of the people on the
neighbouring coast. It sets forth that "the Council has thought
convenient that the persons, buyers, and intromettors with the goods
taken in piracy by a French ship of war lately frequenting about the
May, shall be called before my Lord Admiral and his deputies, as well
to make surety that the same shall be forthcoming to the just owners,
friends, and confederates of this realm, as to underlie punishment for
buying and resset of unlawful gudis upon the stream, according to the
laws and justice".
A peculiar use to which the May was put in 1580 is recorded in the same
Register. Certain persons "infectit with the pest" having arrived within
the waters and river of Tay, on board a ship of which John Anderson was
master, charge had been given them to withdraw themselves, together with
their ship and goods, with all possible diligence, to the Isle of May,
and to remain there, under pain of death, till they were cleansed and
had obtained licence to depart. In spite of that, they had gone farther
up the Tay, with the intention of landing and selling their goods. They
were consequently ordered a second time, under the same penalty, to be
rigidly executed, to repair to the Isle of May; and the lieges were
commanded, by open proclamation, at all places needful, not to suffer
any of them to come to land or harbour, under the same penalty of death.
If any of the infected persons violated the order, the Provost and
Magistrates within whose bounds the transgression had taken place were
to cause them and those who harboured them to be apprehended and
executed; the infected houses were to be closed, and the ship, boats,
and goods to be burnt.
The first lay proprietor of the May, Patrick Learmonth, retained
possession of the island for only two years. In 1551, it was conferred
on Andrew Balfour of Monquhannie. Seven years later, it was again
granted to John Forret of Fyngask, with the proviso that, in view of the
exposed situation of the isle, he should not be bound to pay the feu
duty at any time when there was war between Scotland and any foreign
nation. A still later owner of the May was Allan Lamont, by whom it was
sold to Alexander Cunningham, Laird of Barnes. Cunningham built on it "a
convenient house, with accommodation for a family". It was he, too, who,
at the request and for the benefit of the seafaring population of the
towns situated on the northern coast of the firth, set up a lighthouse,
the first on the Scottish seaboard, on the Isle of May. The Register of
the Privy Council enables us to follow some of the negotiations entered
upon with a view to its erection. In January, 1631, the Lords of the
Privy Council, in consequence of Cunningham's application, ordered
letters to be directed, charging the Provosts and Bailies of Edinburgh,
Dundee, St. Andrews, Crail, Anstruther, Pittenweem, Dysart, Kirkcaldy,
Kinghorn, and Burntisland to send commissioners to represent them before
the Council, and to give their advice and opinion "anent ane
propositioun made to the Kingis Majestie for erecting of lichts upon the
Isle of May, as ane thing thought to be most necessarie and expedient
for the saulfetie of shippes arryving within the Firth". The question of
the costs which the upkeep of the light would entail appears to have
presented considerable difficulty at first. In spite of petitions from
skippers and others most directly interested in the scheme, "the Lords
of the Secret Council having heard and considered the report made by the
commissioners for the burghs touching the lights craved by Alexander
Cunningham of Barnes to be erected on the Isle of May, and being well
advised therewith, and with the reasons and grounds of the same", found
"no reason for imposing any duty to be uplifted towards the maintenance
of the said lights". The matter was not, however, allowed to drop; and
on the 22nd of April, 1636, the King at length acceding to the request
of the coast towns, authorized Cunningham to build a lighthouse and to
keep it up for nineteen years. Funds for its maintenance were to be
obtained directly from those most benefited by it, by the imposition of
a duty of two shillings Scots--that is, two pence sterling--per ton, on
all ships sailing between St. Abb's Head and Dunottar. Cunningham
erected in the same year, "a tower forty feet high, vaulted to the top
and covered with flagstones, whereon all the year over, there burned in
the night-time a fire of coals for a light". Sibbald states that the
coals employed were from Wemyss, and that these were preferred on
account of their hardness and of the clearness of their light, that
about three hundred and eighty tons were consumed annually, and that
three men were employed in keeping the beacon, two of whom were always
on watch during the night. In the edition of Sibbald's work published
in 1803, it is mentioned that prior to 1790, but subsequently to the
time when the dues had been fixed at three-halfpence per ton for
Scottish ships, and threepence for foreign--including English--vessels,
the revenue of the lighthouse was farmed at £280 per annum, that it then
rose to £960, and that in 1800 it was further augmented to £1500--"a
striking proof of the increase of trade in this country". To commemorate
the erection of this earliest of the Northern Lights, and to
indicate--not absolutely correctly, however--the date, a scholar of St.
Andrews composed these two lines of Latin doggerel:
Flumina ne noceant neu flumina lumina Maia
PrebVIt et MeDIIs InsVLa LVX et aqVIS.
There is a tradition that the architect who planned and built the tower
perished, on his voyage to the mainland, in a storm which some old
women, then supposed to be witches, were burnt for raising.
In the description of the May contributed to the _Statistical Account of
Scotland_ published in 1792, the Rev. James Forrester reports a very
melancholy accident which happened whilst he was employed in drawing up
his notice, and which he thinks ought to be recorded as a warning for
future times. "The keeper of the lighthouse, his wife, and five children
were suffocated. One child, an infant, is still alive, who was found
sucking at the breast of its dead mother. Two men, who were assistants
to the keeper, were senseless, but got out alive. This truly mournful
event was owing to the cinders having been allowed to accumulate for
more than ten years. The cinders reached up to the window of the
apartments where these unfortunate people slept. They were set on fire
by live coals falling from the lighthouse, and the wind blowing the
smoke into the windows, and the door below being shut, the consequences
were inevitable. These persons were the only inhabitants, and all of
them lodged in the lighthouse. The families who formerly resided there
lodged in houses detached from it. The old plan is to be again adopted,
and houses are preparing for lodging the keeper and a boat's crew, which
will be of advantage to all the coast, as they will be ready to give
intelligence when the herrings come into the Firth."
After the Union the unequal incidence of the duties leviable for the
light of May--English and Irish vessels being charged double rates as
foreigners--gave rise to much dissatisfaction. In addition to this,
there was a general feeling that anything that was payable in the form
of a tax ought not to be held as private property. With regard to the
light itself, it gradually became more evident that a coal fire, exposed
in an open choffer to the vicissitudes of the weather, was altogether
inadequate to the requirements of the shipping trade. After the
appointment of a Lighthouse Board in Scotland in the year 1786, those
most directly affected often expressed a wish that the light of May
should be included as one of the Northern Lights; that it should get
the benefit of the most recent improvements; that, in accordance with
the spirit and conditions of the Act for the regulation of the Northern
Lighthouses, the invidious distinction between the shipping of the three
kingdoms should be done away with; and, further, that there should be
some prospect of the duties being modified and ultimately ceasing
altogether. Moved by these various considerations, the shipping trade of
the Firth of Forth repeatedly approached the family of Scotstarvit, into
whose hands the property and light of May had come by purchase, in 1714,
with a view to the improvement of the old beacon. In consequence of
representations from the Chamber of Commerce of Edinburgh, which visited
the island in 1786, the choffer was enlarged to the capacity of a square
of three feet, and the quantity of fuel annually consumed increased to
about 400 tons. The Chamber further recommended that the stock of coals,
hitherto exposed to the open air on the island, should in future be kept
under cover, and that the supply should invariably be obtained from the
collieries of Wemyss, of which the coal was considered fittest for
maintaining a steady light, and was consequently employed at Heligoland
and other coal lights on the Continent. All these conditions were
complied with by Miss Scott of Scotstarvit's tutors, and from that time
the May beacon became the most powerful coal light in the kingdom, the
capacity of its choffer being double that of any other. But even these
improvements could not prevent it from being unsteady in bad weather,
and there still remained the great disadvantage that limekilns and other
accidental open fires upon the neighbouring coast were apt to be
mistaken for the May light. To obviate the possibility of such mistakes,
the Trinity House of Leith, in 1790, presented a memorial to the Duke of
Portland, who, through his marriage with Miss Scott, had become
proprietor of the May, and requested him to replace the coal-beacon by
an oil-light with reflectors, enclosed in a glazed light-room. In spite
of this application and of many others from various quarters, no further
improvements were introduced at the time.
In the year 1809, Robert Stevenson, engineer to the Northern Lights
Board, foreseeing that, notwithstanding the recent erection of the Bell
Rock Lighthouse, the navigation of this part of the coast would still be
very dangerous unless the light of May were improved, took an
opportunity of bringing the matter under the notice of the
Commissioners, who were not of opinion, however, that it could be taken
up by them except at the instance of the proprietor. In the following
year the question was brought into prominence by an event of serious
importance. Early in the morning of the 19th of December two of His
Majesty's ships, the frigates _Nymphen_ and _Pallas_, were wrecked near
Dunbar, in consequence, it was believed, of the fire of a limekiln on
the Haddingtonshire coast having been mistaken for the May light. The
ships were completely lost, but, the weather being moderate, only nine
men were drowned out of the joint crews of some 600. It was a remarkable
circumstance attending the catastrophe, that, although the two ships had
sailed in company, and had struck within a few miles of each other,
their similar fate was perfectly unknown to the respective crews till
late in the day.
This loss of £100,000 roused the Government to action. Lord Viscount
Melville, who was First Lord of the Admiralty at the time, applied to
the Lighthouse Board to take over the light of May as one of the
Northern Lights. In the negotiations that ensued, the Duke of Portland
proposed a scheme, in accordance with which he was to carry out the
suggested alterations, and the Commissioners were to become his lessees.
This proposal did not, however, meet with the approval of the latter,
their opinion being that the only position they could assume in the
transaction was that of purchasers for the public. The ultimate result
was the acquisition of the Isle of May, together with the light duties,
for the sum of £60,000--£3000 less than the Duke of Portland had
originally demanded. This was in 1814. That same year an Act was passed
reducing the light duty to one penny per ton for all British ships.
Immediate measures were also taken for carrying out the necessary
improvements. In the course of the following summer, a new lighthouse
was erected, and a light from oil, with reflectors, was exhibited on the
1st of February, 1816. The following official description of the new
light of May was published at the time:--
"The lighthouse on the Isle of May is situate at the entrance of the
Firth of Forth, in North lat. 56° 12´, and long. 2° 36´ west of London.
From the lighthouse Fifeness bears by compass N. by E. 1/2 E., distant
five miles; and the Staples Rocks, lying off Dunbar, S. by W. 1/2 W.,
distant ten miles. The light, being formerly from coal, exposed to the
weather in an open grate or choffer, was discontinued on the night of
the 1st of February, 1816, when a light from oil, with reflectors, known
to mariners as a Stationary Light, was exhibited. The new lighthouse
tower upon the Isle of May is contiguous to the side of the old one, and
is elevated 240 feet above the medium level of the sea, of which the
masonry forms 57 feet, and is therefore similar to the old tower in
point of height. The new light is defended from the weather in a glazed
light-room, and has a uniform steady appearance, resembling a star of
the first magnitude, and is seen from all points of the compass, at the
distance of about 7 leagues, and intermediately, according to the state
of the atmosphere."
In the summer of 1814, shortly after the May had been acquired by the
Northern Lights Board, Sir Walter Scott accompanied the Commissioners on
their visit of inspection. In the Diary which he kept during the cruise,
the following entry occurs under date of the 29th of July, the day on
which the lighthouse yacht sailed from Leith:--"Reached the Isle of May
in the evening, went ashore, and saw the light--an old tower, and much
in the form of a border-keep, with a beacon-grate on the top. It is to
be abolished for an oil revolving-light, the grate-fire only being
ignited upon the leeward side when the wind is very high.... The isle
had once a cell or two upon it. The vestiges of the chapel are still
visible. Mr. Stevenson proposed demolishing the old tower, and I
recommended 'ruining' it 'à la picturesque', i.e., demolishing it
partially. The island might make a delightful residence for
bathers."[229] Scott's romantic suggestion was not, however, adopted.
The old lighthouse tower on the Isle of May was reduced in height to
about 20 feet, and by direction of the Board was converted into a
guardroom for the convenience of pilots and fishermen. The square,
battlemented, white building is still standing at the present day. Above
the door there is a tablet with a figure of the rising sun over the date
1636. It is surmounted by a lion holding an escutcheon, on which the
armorial bearings--probably those of the builder--are no longer
decipherable. In the vaulted room within the tower there is an old iron
grate with the initials A. C., which suit Alexander Cunningham, and are
doubtless his.
The ruins mentioned by Sir Walter are also visible at the present day,
though in an even more dilapidated state than when he saw them. They are
situated in a hollow, towards the south-east end of the island, probably
near the spot where the monastery stood. They are doubtless the remains
of St. Adrian's Chapel, which continued to be visited by pilgrims long
after the destruction of the monastery itself. The space within the
walls measures about 32 feet in length and 15 feet in breadth. In the
west wall are two windows, of which the semi-circular interior openings
seem to indicate Norman work, and suggest the thirteenth century as the
date of the building. There are also remnants of windows both in the
south and in the north wall. A shapeless gap near the southern extremity
shows the position of the door. Just within it there may still be seen
what is perhaps a fragment of the holy-water stoup. From the fact that
the ruins lie north and south, it has been thought that the chapel
occupied only a part of the building, and duly lay east and west within
it. If such were the case, it must have been of exceptionally small
dimensions, and have contained a very diminutive altar. At the present
time no attempt seems to be made to prevent the venerable relic from
falling further into decay; and the rough enclosure within which it
stands is used as a sheep-pen.
The lighthouse now on the May is situated close to the old tower. It is
a massive quadrangular stone building surmounted by a square tower which
at a distance gives it the appearance of a church. It first came into
use on the 1st of December, 1886. For fifteen years previously the
Commissioners of the Northern Lights had been anxious to establish an
electric light on the Scottish coast; but it was not till 1883 that the
Board of Trade was able to sanction the expenditure, and suggested its
introduction at the Isle of May, on the ground that "there was no more
important station on the Scottish shores, whether considered as a
landfall, as a light for the guidance of the extensive or important
trade of the neighbouring coast, or as a light to lead into the refuge
of the Forth". The new buildings, engines, electric machines and lamps
cost £15,835; but, including old material which it was found possible to
utilize, the total installation was estimated at £22,435. As to
technical details, it may suffice to mention that the generators are two
of De Meritens's alternate-current magneto-electric machines, weighing
about four and a half tons each. The engines are a pair of horizontal
surface-condensing steam engines, each with two cylinders 9 inches in
diameter and 18 inches stroke, making 140 revolutions per minute. There
are two steam boilers, of which only one is in use at a time. Each of
them is 20 feet long and 5 feet 6 inches in diameter. Only one of the
three electric lamps is used at a time, and is changed once an hour to
allow it to cool. The light is about 25,000 candle-power, but when seen
from the water gives a flash equal to 3,000,000 candles, which can be
increased to 6,000,000. The May apparatus is so designed as to give a
group of four flashes in quick succession, followed by an interval of
darkness lasting thirty seconds. The highest recorded distance at which
the reflection of the light has been observed is 61 nautical miles. The
May is also provided with a powerful horn, of which the sound serves as
a guide during the frequent "haars" or sea-fogs that rise from the North
Sea. In addition to this, it has a smaller fixed light which serves as a
leading light for ships coming down from Fifeness. It is visible on one
side of the island only.
Owing to the increased cost of maintenance of the May light--it is
estimated at more than £1000 a year--an Order in Council was issued in
1886, authorizing the collection of two-sixteenths of a penny per ton,
as light dues, from vessels carrying cargo or passengers, which may pass
or derive benefit from the light when on a coasting or home-trade
voyage, and of one penny per ton when on an oversea voyage, subject to
the usual deductions.
The May light is served by seven keepers, the chief of whom does not,
however, share the watches. Their quarters, which are neat and
commodious, and sufficiently large for the accommodation of such of them
as have families, are situated at some distance from the lighthouse,
between two hills that afford protection from the prevalent gales. Close
to them is the engine-house, with its tall chimney-stalk. The necessary
supply of water for it is drawn from the little lake, of which early
descriptions of the island make mention, and which has now been turned
into a reservoir.