Iolaire Disaster

[KAYJAY]

Has anyone heard of the very sad disaster of the sinking of the Admiralty Yacht Iolaire on the First of January 1919.

This yacht sank on the approach to Stornoway Harbour, in the dark in a storm with 205 sailors drowned, about 185 of whom lived on the Isle of Lewis, on their way home after being demobbed from the navy.

The youngest was just 17 (a signal boy) and the oldest was 51 as far as I am aware.

What made it even more horrific is that their families knew they were coming and many were standing on the harbour pier and watched helplessly at the distress flares going up and watched as the yacht sank and their Husbands and Sons were lost.

One man after several trying several times, managed to swim ashore with a rope and a very few men were saved, very few of the men aboard could swim.

This was a catastrophy for the Island which had already lost many men during the war serving with the armed forces.

Ken.

[HERITAGE PLUS]

Prior to being requistioned by the Admiralty she was known as the 'Amalthea'.

On New Years Eve 1918 she was being used to transfer 261 Naval personnel on leave from the Kyle of Lochalsh to Stornaway. At 2.am the next morning she ran into the Beasts of Holm at the entrance to Stornaway Harbour. Some of those on board managed to reach the shore and one of them Seaman John MacCleod took a heaving line with him by means of which a hawser was pilled across but only 79 could be saved as the heavy sea swiftly claimed the ship and those left onboard.

A public inquiry suggested the cause was a navigation error, but also identified negligence on the part of the crew

There is a memorial on the cliff top at Stornaway.

See: http://www.culturehebrides.com/heritage/iolaire/

[AthollHighlander]

Picked up from local press that the "Antiques Road show" were up in Stornoway and one of the items taken along was the bell from the "Iolaire"

Programme goes out on 9 Jan 2005.

Atholl

[jamiemcginlay]

This is a picture of the memorial to the disaster at Stornoway. The Islands of Lewis and Harris suffered, proportionately, very high losses in WWI. There were many men serving, not only in the three services, but also, being an island, in the R.N.V.R. and Merchant Navy. Words are inadequate.

[wulliam]

This is an old thread but worth reviving. My granny recalls her father going down to the beach each day, dressed in his Sunday best (out of respect for the bodies he was about to find), and bringing bodies up from the beach.

The sinking of the Iolaire is the worst UK peacetime maritime disaster since the Titanic - and virtually no one knows of it. The men were coming home from 4 years of war and it happened that they were to dock at New Year - could their families have been happier? And they saw the lights coming - and then slowly disappear below the water. The boat sank just a few yards from shore (perhaps 20?)...it was pitch black...and many of the men swam out to sea thinking that land lay that way.

As Jamie has said, words are useless.

[joseph]

I feel for your G Grandfather, especially if his name was Macleod as 31 of that name where lost on the Iolaire.

Regards Charles

[healdav]

Is this the ship where the enquiry found that the captain had, bizarrely, followed a short cut recommended by a passenger (a local man) and ran straight on to the rocks?

[Malcolm]

For the names see:

www.snwm.org

and just put 01/01/1919 in the date box on the WW1 database.

Aye

Malcolm

[johnyC]

My grandpa's brother, seaman Allan Macleod 4661.A R.N.R. Anson btn, R.N.D. was lost on the Iolaire, his body was never found: http://hometown.aol.co.uk/Ablokland/Allan+Macleod.jpg

This site has a link to the names of those who were lost and those who survived: http://hometown.aol.co.uk/pharmolo/iolaire.html

This link: http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g104/fomic/P7300016.jpg is to a picture of the Iolaire section of the North Lochs war memorial at Leurbost which names Allan twice, at 43 Ranish where he was born and raised until aged 9, also at 11 Leurbost where he was then raised by his aunt until he went to war (his parents, my great-grandparents both died in 1902) You'll notice that they also lost another son from 11 Leurbost, Alexander Mackenzie, on the Iolaire.

In researching this recently I was helped by Malcolm Macdonald of the Stornoway Historical Society, who told me more about my family in Lochs than I already knew myself. He told me that the lists for the 'Loyal Lewis roll of honour' were compiled by school headmasters, which might explain Allan's double entry. He attended Fidigarry school in Ranish, then later at Leurbost school, both headmasters must have entered his name.

[barrieduncan]

If I remember higher grade english correctly, there was a poem written about the sinking of the Iolaire - for some reason I want to say it was by Iain Crichton Smith - thats where I first heard about it, such a sad loss of life.

[barrieduncan]

The Iolaire - Ian Crichton Smith

The green washed over them. I saw them when

the New Year brought them home. It was a day

that orbed the horizon with an enigma.

It seemed that there were masts. It seemed that men

buzzed in the water round them. It seemed that fire

shone in the water which was thin and white

unravelling towards the shore. It seemed that I

touched my fixed hat which seemed to float and then

the sun illuminated fish and naval caps,

names of the vanished ships. In sloppy waves,

in the fat of water, they came floating home

bruising against their island. It is true

a minor error can inflict this death

that star is not responsible. It shone

over the puffy blouse, the flapping blue

trousers, the black boots. The seagulls swam

bonded to the water. Why not man?

The lights were lit last night, the tables creaked

with hoarded food. They willed the ship to port

in the New Year which would erase the old,

its errant voices, its unpractised tones.

Have we done ill, I ask? My sober hat

floated in the water, my fixed body

a simulacrum of the transient waste,

for everything was mobile, planks that swayed,

the keeling ship exploding and the splayed

cold insect bodies. I have seen your church

solid. This is not. The water pours

into the parting timbers where ache

above the globular eyes. The lsack heads turn

ringing the horizon without a sound

with mortal bells, a strange exuberant flower

unknown to our dry churchyards. I look up.

The sky begins to brighten as before,

remorseless amber, and the bruised blue grows

at the erupting edges. I have known you, God,

not as the playful one but as the black

thunderer from the hills. I kneel

and touch this dumb blonde head. My hand is scorched.

Its human quality confuses me.

I have not felt such hair so dear before

not seen such real eyes. I kneel from you.

This water soaks me. I am running with

its tart sharp joy. I am floating here

In my black uniform, I am embraced

by these green ignorant waters. I am calm

[michaeldr]

There is an excellent Two (2) Page article here http://www.c-e-n.org/iolaire.htm

[John Morcombe]

My grandpa's brother, seaman Allan Macleod 4661.A R.N.R. Anson btn, R.N.D. was lost on the Iolaire, his body was never found:

Just a small point. Allan MacLeod left the RND in October 1914. He was on leave from HMS President III (DAMS) when drowned in the Iolaire. Five RNR ratings late RND were lost. No-one then currently serving in the RND died.

As a matter of interest, many men are incorrectly recorded by the CWGC as HM Yacht Iolaire, this having supplanted their true unit (e.g. HMS Pembroke, as in the Case of A/3309 Smn. Donald Wm. Gillies RNR).

[johnyC]

Thanks John,

It's been a voyage of discovery for me, I didn't even know that Allan ever lived until July of this year. There have been some difficulties in establishing the facts, regarding all my Lochs relatives ww1 history. I'm certainly no expert on naval history, but there were some inaccuracies in the records on Lewis, so I just copied down what was on Allan's medal box.

[SiegeGunner]

This link http://www.macleodgenealogy.org/ACMS/D0040/I1715.html, turned up during research on the 'Mystery Ship Netley' thread, states that the crew of the Q-ship Hyderabad, which was later sent to Northern Russia as a depot ship, was largely composed of Lewis men, among them several MacLeods, and that many of them, travelling home after demobilisation, were lost in the Iolaire disaster.

Mick

[John Gilinsky]

This the 88th. sad anniversary of the loss of the armed yacht HMS Iolaire (January 1, 1919) I wish to commemorate and remind ourselves of the accidents of war which have caused a good many of those fatal casualties that seem to disappear from the official casualty lists, the history books (after all the war ended on November 11, 1918 right?) and collective memories.

John

[lopag]

I am the compiler of a pretty comprehensive list of those lost (my grandfather Malcolm Macdonald was one) and of those rescued, with addresses and units last served on/with. The crew, who are often disregarded, are included. There is a link to this list via the Stornoway Historical Society website.

Malcolm Macdonald

www.stornowayhistoricalsociety.org.uk

[Malcolm]

Malcolm,

An excellent effort, well done. I assume you have looked at SNWM.org at the 183 names given for your ' lost ' men.?

I will add a post to the section in the Scottish War Memorial Forum. http://warmemscot.s4.bizhat.com/viewtopic....orum=warmemscot

or you could join it yourself.

Aye

Malcolm

[lopag]

The Scottish National War Memorial merely lists all those who died on 1 January 1919 - some of whom were not on the Iolaire. Those aboard the yacht who were born outside Scotland are also omitted.

I tried to subscribe to the War Memorial site but to no avail.

Regards

Malcolm Macdonald

[historydavid]

I have a list of 203 names of Naval personnel lost on 1/1/19 (includes both crew and passengers).

If anyone would like a copy send me your email address.

Best wishes

David

[Borden Battery]

A new addition to the CEF Study Group List of Recommended Great War Websites. Borden Battery

Iolaire Disaster 1919 – Shipwreck off Outer Hebrides

This simple blogsite lists the two hundred men of the district who lost their lives within sight of Stornoway Harbour, when their transport, H.M.Y. Iolaire foundered on the Beasts of Holm on 1 January 1919. [CEF Study Group – Nov 2008][Recommended by Guido Blokland]

http://iolaire1919.blogspot.com/

[johnyC]

I just noticed this thread had come up again, two years since I posted on it last. Since then I made a wee tribute slideshow which I put on youtube. It shows a pilgrimage of sorts I made (for Ranish is holy ground to me) by bicycle in '06, to pay my respects to Allan at North Lochs and at Holm where Iolaire sunk. home to Lewis from it you'll be able to connect to other videos of the Iolaire tragedy.

The family picture at the end of the slideshow (clearer copy below) was taken in 1959, showing the family my Grandfather went on to have that his brothers did not. He lost two fingers on 10th October 1918, his horse killed beneath him and others beside him, from shellfire. His war was over then, or I might not be writing this today.

[John Cubin]

I seem to recall that 'Iolaire' is the Gaelic word for 'Eagle' and is pronounced 'Yewlar'. Perhaps someone with the Gaelic will confirm/correct?

[per ardua per mare per terram]

Thanks for the pic johnyc, what a war.

[dundeesown]

I seem to recall that 'Iolaire' is the Gaelic word for 'Eagle' and is pronounced 'Yewlar'. Perhaps someone with the Gaelic will confirm/correct?

That`s correct Iolair is Gaelic for Eagle,but I don`t Know how it`s pronounced.

I first heard of the Iolair disaster when I had to stay on the Fire Fighting rig (Iolair ) in the North Sea in the 40s Field.( a very scary tale to be told in a storm.).