The sinking of HMY "Iolaire"

The sinking of HMY "Iolaire"

HM Yacht "Iolaire" was carrying seamen who had fought in and survived the First World, War back to their homes on the Scottish island of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. She left the port of Kyle of Lochalsh on the mainland late on the evening of 31 December 1918. At 2:30 a.m. on New Year's Day, as the ship approached the port of Stornoway, a few yards offshore and a mile away from the safety of Stornoway Harbour, she hit the infamous rocks known as "The Beasts of Holm" and sank. The tragedy unfolded almost 20 yards from land, but nobody on the land was aware that the ship with her passengers and crew was in trouble on their doorstep, and that those on board had very few minutes in which to save themselves. Some tried to swim for safety but in the cold wild waters almost none would make it. One brave man managed to get ashore with a rope and a hand over hand crossing was established, but the sea would clear that vital rope of its cargo on more than one occasion, but men were getting ashore, often battered and bleeding but alive. Once the alarm had been sounded things moved at a frustratingly slow pace; and by the time all of it had been co-ordinated it was too late, the ship had gone down, those who could reach safety had, although one man still clung to the mast. The morning light revealed the carnage, dead men washed up on the shore, or drifting in the sea, exhausted survivors looking for help and trying to find their friends or family that may have survived. The full horror was still to come as the islanders tried to take stock of what had happened. Isolated families were notified and the festivities of Hogmanay would be forgotten as married women found that they were now widows while their children were unable to understand the magnitude of the tragedy that was unfolding around them. The community where this disaster had unfolded was never the same again, families would grieve for many years, while those who had lived through it would suffer from “survivors guilt”. Two commissions of inquiry were set up but neither could find any real reason for why the ship ended up on the Beasts of Holm in the first place. There was nobody alive who could explain the sequence of events that had led to the ship hitting the rocks. The dead are commemorated on the Portsmouth, Chatham and Plymouth Naval Memorials, but many are buried in a number of cemeteries on the island and surrounding settlements. There is a memorial to those who lost their lives on the Island of Lewis, but is is a rarely visited because the story of the sinking of HMY Iolaire is almost forgotten. The death toll was officially put at 205, of whom 181 men were islanders; but as the ship was badly overcrowded and there was a lack of proper records, the toll could have been slightly higher. Only 75 of the 280 officially known passengers survived the disaster.

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  • Profile picture for Allan Mcleod

    Born 1894

    Died 1919

    Royal Navy A 4661 Seaman Royal Naval Reserve

    Royal Navy A/4661 Seaman Royal Naval Reserve: HMS Vivid

    Royal Navy A/4661 Able Seaman Royal Naval Division Anson Battalion