Skippers of the dumpy mail boats which ply between Fishguard, Wales and Rosslare, Eire are very well acquainted with Tuskar Rock, some seven miles off the latter port. Tuskar means peat spade, but in the old days Tuskar Rock dug only graves in the water. Now Tuskar Light is a 110-foot beacon visible all the way from Wales.
Patrick Scanlon, William Cahill and Peter Roddy, tenders of Tuskar Light, last week saw a shiny, globular object float into the area swept by the light's beam. It was a mine. Slowly the waves carried it toward the rock. The three marooned men banked on the chance that tides might carry the mine to one side, but each wave closed the gap, a few inches at a time.
Ashore at Rosslare people saw a great flash. They thought the light's fuel had blown up. They put out in a lifeboat. In the kitchen of Tuskar Light they found Patrick Scanlon, dying of injuries. They found William Cahill under a pile of debris, unhurt. Above, beside the light, they found Peter Roddy, unconscious. Tuskar Light still shone the way into Rosslare for the skippers of dumpy mail boats.