(Article from the Scotsman, 18 January 1919)
The Iolaire disaster, where 200 men died yards from shore
DIANE MACLEAN
31 December 1918
THE ISLE of Lewis had a
hard war. Some 6,200 men joined up and nearly 1,000 had died. Every
family on the island had lost fathers, sons, brothers or uncles. So,
the night of 31 December 1918 was tense with expectation. The war was
finally over, the world was at peace and after four long years the men
who had served king and country were on their way home.
The
Kyle of Lochalsh was alive. Hundreds of laughing, boisterous servicemen
were crowded onto the quay. The regular steam-ferry, the SS Sheila, was
soon packed so the Royal Navy ordered the Iolaire across the Minch from
her berth in Stornoway to carry the extra men left behind.
The
Iolaire had been a luxury yacht before the war, sailing under the name
of the Amalthaea. She was used by the navy in anti-submarine and patrol
work when she was renamed the Iolaire – Gaelic for "Sea Eagle".
When
she arrived in Kyle there was some discussion between the Master,
Commander Mason and Commander Walsh, in charge at Kyle. Commander Mason
was worried about the paucity of life-saving equipment onboard. She was
kitted out with only two lifeboats and lifejackets for 80. Even more
worrying she had never sailed into Stornoway harbour at night, a tricky
manoeuvre in daylight.
Discussions were brought up short when
two more trains arrived at the quay spilling out more demobbed men. The
master ordered the 284 servicemen, predominately navy reserves, up the
gangplank and onto the ship.
She
left at 9:30pm, sailing out of the darkness of the new year. But 12
miles out of Stornoway Harbour the weather turned. As a gale took hold
the crew of a local fishing boat watched in confusion as the Iolaire
failed to change course to make harbour. Instead she carried on full
steam ahead into the pitch-black night.
Biastan Thuilm - the
Beasts of Holm - is a rocky outcrop just short of the harbour entrance.
A small light attached to the rock warns mariners of the approaching
danger. When the Iolaire failed to turn, the flickering light was
useless. The momentum of the ship kept pushing her forward.
Visibility
was poor. Sleet was falling and the seas were wild. When the ship
collided with the "Beasts" she went over almost immediately. Nobody on
board knew where they were. The boat was lying only about 20 feet from
land, but between the ship and the rocks was a boiling, raging sea.
Fifty men jumped into the water and made for shore. They all drowned in
the freezing water. The two lifeboats were launched, but were swamped
immediately as too many men battled for too few seats.
At three o’clock in the morning the ship’s back broke and she went under.
As
the men onboard slowly drowned one man, John Macleod, swam for his life
hauling a rope behind him. When he reached shore he set up another
stronger rope, and 25 men escaped along this safety line. John Macleod
was awarded the highest peacetime aware for heroism for his incredible
courage and strength.
Donald Morrison climbed the mast as the
ship went down and clung on as she submerged. He was picked up alive
the next morning at 10 o’clock, having spent eight hours in the water.
His
brother was not so lucky. He drowned alongside 205 men who had seen off
enemy fire only to die within shouting distance of their own homes.
The
Lewis Roll of Honour records the poignant loss of Kenneth Macphail
whose death epitomises the tragedy: "He was the sole survivor of a ship
torpedoed in the Mediterranean in October 1917. He had a terrible
experience before he was rescued having been nearly 36 hours in the sea
until washed ashore in Algeria. Pathetic in the extreme it is to think
that this powerful seaman after so miraculous an escape in the
Mediterranean, perished within a few feet of his native soil."
Aerial photograph of Stornoway
As
New Year’s Day broke across the islands, families waiting for the
arrival of their loved ones heard rumours of a terrible disaster. Men
walked miles from villages to Stornoway searching for news. What they
found was devastating. The Scotsman of 6 January reported the
tragedy, soberly noting: "The villages of Lewis are like places of the
dead. The homes of the island are full of lamentation – grief that
cannot be comforted. Scarcely a family has escaped the loss of a near
blood relative. Many have had sorrow heaped upon sorrow."
Days
went by and still all the men were not recovered. Boats left the
harbour in search of bodies to return as night fell to a silent crowd
waiting at the harbour. In 1959 Donald Macphail, speaking on Gaelic
radio, recalled the moment his friend found the body of his son.
‘The
man’s son was there, and I remember he was so handsome that I could
have said he was not dead at all. His father went on his knees beside
him and began to take letters from his son’s pockets. And the tears
were splashing on the body of his son. And I think it is the most
heart-rending sight I have ever seen.’
Two investigations were
ordered. With the crew dead no conclusion was reached, other than to
rule out drink as being the cause. A public enquiry held later found
that the deciding factor in the tragedy was the lack of lifebelts and
life craft in the vessel.
How traumatically the Iolaire
disaster affected the islands is unknown. Roddy Murray director of An
Lanntair museum in Stornoway thinks that it cannot be underestimated.
"We can speculate on its contribution to the mass emigrations of the
twenties, its effect on the Lewis character, the rebirth of an inherent
fatalism. Its effect was like the Passover of the Old Testament."
Snaking
through the whole story, like a spectral ribbon are tales of
supernatural occurrences. John Macleod later told his son that he saw
his mother standing before him as he jumped into the sea. Deer,
portents of death, were seen in a number of villages that night.
Strangest
of all was the story of a man from Breascleit who was tormented with
visions of a body floating in the sea. He walked to Stornoway and
directed the recovery boats to the area he had seen in his dream. Sure
enough a body was recovered in exactly the place he had described. It
was no surprise to anyone when the body turned out to be the old man’s
son.
MV Muirneag
MV Isle of Lewis
