THE NORTH RIDING PROJECT

The first three keepers of the Edda lighthouse, constructed in 1807 at the northernmost tip of the distant Fryup island of Mardoll, vanished without trace, their meals half finished and their oilskin capes still hanging on their pegs just inside the structure’s locked main door.  Suspicion immediately fell upon the islanders, whose bounty from the innumerable wrecks on the treacherous reefs surrounding the islands had been gravely threatened since the lighthouse’s inauguration.  But no trace of the men was ever found: subsequent keepers came armed with muskets, pistols and swords.

Staniforth/unpub