The ship went down in April 1813, painfully close to the shore. Struck by snowy squalls, whaling vessel the Oscar was swept onto the rocks near Aberdeen. In desperation her crew chopped down the main mast, hoping to use it as a bridge, but it collapsed into the sea. Only two of the reported 44 men on board survived.
Families grieved, and the community clamoured for a lighthouse to illuminate the harbour.
Twenty years later, the tower at Girdle Ness was built – a tall, tapering cylinder, painted white, that served as a comfort to seamen.