Iolaire

Yesterday, I mentioned the correspondence in Scottish newspapers surrounding the sinking of HMY [His Majesty's Yacht] Iolaire in 1919. The image above shows the immediate aftermath of the disaster. At daybreak, at 9 am on New Year's Day 1919, one man was found hanging in the rigging of the mast. Seven others had been with him, but were unable to hang on and had fallen down, and had drowned. It is impossible to imagine the depth of grief that the loss of 200 young men brought to Lewis. Today, I was sent a transcript of an article from the Glasgow Herald of January 4th, 1919:

An old man sobbing into his handkerchief with a stalwart son in khaki sitting on the cart beside him, the remains of another son in the coffin behind --- that was one of the sights seen today as one of the funeral parties emerged from the barrack gate. Another, an elderly woman, well dressed, comes staggering down the roadway and bursts into a paralysis of grief as she tells the sympathisers at the gate that her boy is in the mortuary. Strong men weeping and women wailing or wandering around with blanched, tear stained faces are to be seen in almost every street and there are groups of them at the improvised mortuary

The islanders found it impossible to speak about the disaster. It was locked away in a cupboard. The last survivor died in 1992. A list of names, of survivors and casualties, was compiled by the Stornoway Historical Society, and can be accessed from this link. The following was the resulting feedback:

(1) A gentleman emailed me from southwest Scotland, saying: "I knew nothing of the Iolaire Disaster [...]. Very moving but tragic that more people don't know more about a large group of young men taken in such tragic circumstances. To have survived a war and then die within sight of home is beyond belief." Others expressed similar sadness.

(2) One lady contacted me from Ontario, Canada. Her ancestors came from Marvig (South Lochs). She gave me permission to reproduce their story.
"My grampa's younger brother, Donald MacLeod (7 Marbhig, then Stornoway),
died coming into harbour on the Iolaire. From the memorial in South Lochs I think two of my greatgrandparents' brothers were killed in the war, as well as losing Donald. My grandfather Alasdair was forbidden from fishing anymore for fear he'd drown too, after his family's losses. A torment for him, as he loved the sea and fishing. He drove for Lord Leverhulme then went to the shipyards in Glasgow to make some money. Her returned to Stornoway for a short time then came to Canada on one of the two ships
for which there were no passenger lists. Settled in our praries for a time (no water at all) then went west to Vancouver Island for the remainder of his lifetime... built himself a little boat and enjoyed it to the end in 1980. So fortunate I visited Stornoway last summer and saw for myself why Alaisdair chose Nanaimo...it looked so like Stornoway...
His mother I think suffered too much heartbreak for it all and was a lost soul in the sanatorium for the rest of her life. And oddly, when I've written lyrics all through my life they have been laden with images of water, and the sea...long before I knew of this event in my family's history. Funny how these things can follow you. I'd not be at all if it weren't for the Iolaire disaster...a ponderous thought, that."

(3) One correspondent mentioned that her ancestors came from Harris, but wondered whether any had been on the Iolaire.

(4) Another reaction bears out the extreme distress that the Iolaire Disaster caused within the islands: "I only found that my grandfather's first cousin [...] was lost on the Iolaire when I looked up his death certificate. The family had never mentioned or talked of him. I go to Harris and will post a photo of his headstone after my next visit. I only learned of how he died after my last trip to the island."

I very recently received this link, which carries more stories.

The Iolaire Disaster is little known outside the Hebrides, although its death toll exceeds that of the disaster with the Herald of Free Enterprise outside Zeebrugge in 1986. Another shipwreck, dating back to 1904, took place at Rockall. The Norge, on its way from Norway to America, foundered on this island, 225 miles west of Scotland. Hundreds perished; 9 are buried at Stornoway.