The loss of HMY Iolaire

Available for over a year

The loss of HMY Iolaire on New Year’s morning 1919 was a bitter blow to the Isle of Lewis. Many Lewismen served in the Royal Navy during WW1. Hundreds of them were streaming home for demobilisation leave - too many for the normal mail boat Sheila to ferry them. The navy sent HMY Iolaire to help, but as she was nearing Stornoway harbour in the early hours of the morning, someone made a tragic navigational error. The overcrowded ship ran onto rocks in bleak weather. Through a heroic feat of swimming to shore with a rope, John F. Macleod managed to save at least forty men, others struggled ashore as they could, but 201 perished. Agnes Rennie is the manager of Acair who’ve published the recent book on the tragedy: Darkest Dawn. She sketches the books contents to Cathy MacDonald, illustrated by archive clips from the BBC documentary Yesterday’s Witness.