Qualla: Dubh Artach

Dubh Artach: Introduction

Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Karenjc, CC BY-SA 3.0. Between 1800 and 1854 some thirty ships went onto the rocks here. The skerry was not even on most charts as a named hazard - it was simply one black tooth in a long row of teeth that included the Torran Rocks to the north and the open Atlantic to the west. Then on her maiden voyage in 1863, the steamer Bussorah hit the reef and went down with all thirty-three hands. Two years later, on the night of 30-31 December 1865, a single storm wrecked twenty-four vessels in the same patch of water. Lloyd's of London, which paid the insurance claims, decided something had to be built here. The problem was that nothing could be built here.

Read more: Dubh Artach on Qualla

Image: Karenjc | CC BY-SA 3.0

Dubh Artach: The Black Rock

Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Samuel Bough, Public domain. Dubh Artach means the Black Rock - dubh for black, artach an obsolete Gaelic word for stony ground that survives in this one place name. The skerry itself is small: 240 feet long, 130 feet wide, rising 35 feet above the sea at its highest point. It is made of basalt, hardened lav...

Read more: Dubh Artach on Qualla

Image: Samuel Bough | Public domain

Dubh Artach: The Stevensons

Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit W. Bulach, CC BY-SA 4.0. There is one family in the history of British engineering that shows up almost every time a lighthouse needed to be built somewhere impossible. The Stevensons of Edinburgh - Robert, his sons Alan and David and Thomas, his grandsons and great-grandsons - built almost every Scottis...

Read more: Dubh Artach on Qualla

Image: W. Bulach | CC BY-SA 4.0

Dubh Artach: The Roof Test

Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit CC BY-SA 3.0. The iron barrack the workmen lived in during construction sat on Dubh Artach 77 feet above sea level. A summer gale in 1868 delivered a wave that broke fully over the roof. Fourteen men, including Brebner, were trapped inside for five days. At one point seawater poured in through...

Read more: Dubh Artach on Qualla

Image: CC BY-SA 3.0

Dubh Artach: Inside the Light

Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Nilfanion, created using Ordnance Survey data, CC BY-SA 3.0. Dubh Artach was the first isolated rock light in Britain to use paraffin - kerosene - rather than oil. The lantern, optical apparatus, and fog bell were installed in 1872. The light went into service that summer. The keepers came in shifts and stayed for weeks. Landing was, and r...

Read more: Dubh Artach on Qualla

Image: Nilfanion, created using Ordnance Survey data | CC BY-SA 3.0