The cormorant and the eel


Mew Island lighthouse (marinas.com)

Another story from an old copy of Beam, written by Paddy McMahon (390) who spent many years on Mew Island in the 1960s. Son of a Scattery Island pilot, he ended up spending a lot of his working life in Northern Island lighthouses, particularly on Mew Island in the Copelands. He and Mary (O’Malley) had five children and retired on 31st January 1979 after forty years’ service. He had apparently refused to join the 2d per week insurance scheme to cover his burial if he died in service, figuring that they’d have to bury him some way or another, 2d per week or not.
Sadly the name of the SAK was not recorded



Marinas.com photo clearly showing the two old gasometers on Mew Island. They were used to store  coal gas produced on the island for running the light in the late 19th century and into the early 20th century (photo marinas.com)

Possibly the same cormorant scouring the seas for eels at the Fastnet (photo capeclearlavender.com)

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