The case of the Slyne Head photograph

 

(Photograph copyright Pauline Mickelsen)

"What do you make of this photograph, Watson?" asked Holmes suddenly, thrusting the sepia rectangle into his friend's hand. As Holmes paced nervously around the study playing Whoa-oh-Black Betty on his Stradivarius, Watson turned the picture over, turned it back again, drew out a magnifying glass, examined the picture and handed it back.

"Says 1905 on the back, Sherlock," he murmured. "Bunch of guys on a rock by the sea in 1905. Oh and there's a small boat too. Is that singular?"

"Well, it's sure as shit not plural, Watson," replied the other, with a deprecating stare. "Is that all you could come up with?"

"One of them seems to have a stomach ache as though something's lodged in his - what's that canal that runs from your throat to your arse?"

"Alimentary, my dear Watson. Are you sure you're a doctor?"

"Well, what do you make of it, clever-clogs?" retorted the good doctor, slightly miffed.

Holmes threw his priceless violin out of the window and sat down on the chaise-longue.

"There is writing in the bottom left hand corner," he said at last, retrieving the magnifying glass from Watson's ear. "It says Slyne Head."

"Where on earth..."

"Slyne Head marks the northerly entrance to Galway Bay in Ireland, Watson. Two lighthouses were established there in 1836. One was discontinued in 1898. The three lightkeepers are the only inhabitants of the island. Yet, I see there are twelve people at least present here..."

"I only saw eleven, Holmes."

"Somebody took the photograph, my slow-witted friend. Twelve people. I am guessing that three, maybe four of them are lightkeepers. And by their dress and their demeanour, I imagine the three men in the boat and the one climbing the steps are the relief boatmen."

"None of them are wearing a dress, Holmes."

"One of the boatmen must be a King," snapped Holmes, ignoring him completely.

"But ,,"

"Not an actual king, you fool. Kings didn't row relief boats, not even as a hobby. No, the King family had the tender for the Slyne Head lifeboats for over 130 years. They will only give it up when the helicopter is invented."

"Heli...?"

"Now, the two men on the landing quay on the right are wearing keepers' caps, as is the man second from the left. I suspect that these three are the keepers, One of them may even be Lionel Edward Mentary."

"Good Lord, Holmes. How do you figure that?"

"L. E. Mentary, my dear Watson. Of course it might not be him. Some of them might be Gregorys, as the lady who gave me this photograph has ancestors who were named Gregory and were lightkeepers. A George Gregory was the elderly keeper at the Baily the night that Queen Victoria sank in 1853..."

"Queen Victoria?"

"The ship, Watson. Try and keep up. And Edward Gregory was the keeper who fell ill on Slyne Head in 1859, ultimately resulting in the strange demise of relief keeper John Doyle. Possibly poisoned by his wife Anne Gregory."

"Oh, I remember. You never solved that one, did you, Holmes?"

"Maybe they had sons who became keepers?" mused Holmes tetchily. "It was the done thing in those days."

"But who are the other men in the casual headgear?" asked Watson. "And why does the man by the winch have no head?"

In response, Holmes strode to his library and pulled out a large tome. He flipped through a few pages. "I knew it, Watson!" he exclaimed in triumph. "1905. Tour of Inspection by the Irish Lights Board. Here's a photograph from 1905 of the Inspecting Committee looking at the new houses for the keepers being built in Clifden, courtesy of the National Library. Note the number of flat caps in the party. Now look at the first photograph."

"Good Lord, Holmes," gasped Watson. "At least two of them are wearing flat caps!"

"And I suspect the man who took this photograph was the eminent scientist and photographer Robert Ball," shouted Holmes. In triumph, he reached down to the open valise lying on the floor and snapped it shut. "The case is closed!" he declared.

"Well..."

"Oh, okay, put it up on your damned social media, if you like. See if anybody else can add anything, names of the keepers or the boatmen, or even general information about the Slyne Head relief boat."