British Admiralty yacht lost in 1919
![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a9/Admiralty-yacht-HMS-Iolaire-ship-Amalthaea-1908.jpg/300px-Admiralty-yacht-HMS-Iolaire-ship-Amalthaea-1908.jpg) As
Amalthaea
in 1908
|
History
|
United Kingdom
|
Name
| Iolaire
|
Namesake
| Eagle (in Scottish Gaelic)
|
Owner
| Royal Navy
|
Launched
| 1881
|
Fate
| Wrecked, 1 January 1919
|
General characteristics
|
Class and type
| Yacht
|
Iolaire
wrecked on the "Beasts of Holm"
Lifeboat from the
Iolaire
HMY
Iolaire
was an
Admiralty
Yacht that sank at the entrance to
Stornoway
harbour on 1 January 1919, with the loss of at least 201 men out of the 283 on board. The overcrowded vessel was trying to negotiate a difficult route under exceptionally bad weather conditions. The disaster cost the
Isle of Lewis
almost the whole of its young male population.
Sinking
[
edit
]
His Majesty's Yacht
Iolaire
(
Scottish Gaelic
for '
Eagle
')
[a]
was an Admiralty yacht, launched as the Iolanthe, previously also named the Amalthaea and re-named in 1918. She was carrying sailors who had fought in the
First World War
back to the Scottish
Isle 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 "The Beasts of Holm" and sank. Those on board would have been able to see the lights of Stornoway. 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 somewhat higher.
John F. Macleod from
Ness, Isle of Lewis
saved
40 lives,
swimming ashore with a heaving line, along which many of the survivors made their way to safety. Only
82 of
the
283 (officially
known) passengers survived the disaster; 71% of the men on the yacht died in the incident.
[1]
The impact of the disaster was devastating to the Islands; 205 passengers were lost, representing almost an entire generation of young men from the Islands.
The sailors were wearing their uniforms including heavy boots, which made swimming from the wreck difficult; many men of that time had never had the opportunity to learn. Many songs and poems, such as
An Iolaire
, describe the women of these men finding their men washed up on the shore the next day. The sinking is the worst maritime disaster (for loss of life) in United Kingdom waters in peacetime, since the wreck of the
SS
Norge
off
Rockall
in 1904 and the worst peacetime disaster involving a British ship since
Titanic
on 15 April 1912.
[1]
An Admiralty enquiry found no satisfactory explanation for the disaster. Its inconclusive findings generated much ill feeling amongst the Lewis population, amidst accusations of a "whitewash". While drunkenness among the crew was discounted at the enquiry, the vessel was sailing at night, in poor visibility and in deteriorating weather. The entrance to Stornoway harbour is not the most straightforward of navigations and it is possible that navigational error was to blame.
[
citation needed
]
This hypothesis appears to be supported by the crew of a fishing vessel who noted that
Iolaire
was not navigating the correct course for entering the harbour.
Memorial
[
edit
]
Iolaire
memorial
The sinking was one of the worst maritime disasters in British waters during the 20th century. A memorial was erected in 1958 at
Holm
, outside Stornoway.
[2]
A stone pillar sticks out of the water at the site of the wreck, which can be seen to starboard as the car ferry approaches the harbour entrance. The community-led commemoration of the centenary was marked in a number of ways including by musicians such as
Julie Fowlis
and
Duncan Chisholm
, as well as local artists such as Malcolm Maclean.
[3]
The disaster has been included in the
Arts and Humanities Research Council
"Living Legacies (1914-18)" project, led by
Abertay University
and
The Centre for History
,
University of the Highlands and Islands
and the resulting app highlights the nature and extent of the loss felt by families and communities.
[4]
A national commemorative service was held at the memorial on 1 January 2019 to mark the centenary of the disaster, attended by First Minister of Scotland
Nicola Sturgeon
and
Prince Charles, Duke of Rothesay
, who unveiled a new memorial at Holm which depicts the rope used by John F. MacLeod to save 40 lives.
[5]
[6]
See also
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- Domhnallach, Tormod Calum (1978).
Call na h-Iolaire
(in Scottish Gaelic and English). Stornoway: Acair.
ISBN
978-0-86152-000-8
.
- MacLeod, John (2009).
When I Heard The Bell
. Edinburgh: Birlinn Press.
ISBN
978-1-84158-858-2
.
- Sea Sorrow: The Story of the Iolaire Disaster (The Loss of the Admiralty Yacht "Iolaire" on New Year's Morning, 1919)
. Stornoway: Stornoway Gazette. 1972 [1959].
ISBN
978-0-903960-01-4
.
External links
[
edit
]
58°11′16″N
6°20′59″W
/
58.18774°N 6.34971°W
/
58.18774; -6.34971
(
Wreck site of HMY Iolaire
)
Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in 1919
|
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Shipwrecks
|
- 1 Jan:
HMY
Iolaire
- 21 Jan:
UC-40
- 30 Jan:
Nimrod
- 7 Feb:
HMS
Erin's Isle
- 8 Feb:
U-16
- 10 Feb:
UC-91
- 18 Feb:
Mirabeau
- 20 Feb:
UC-71
- 22 Feb:
U-21
- 7 Mar:
HNoMS
Thor
- 6 Apr:
SMS
Vulkan
- 15 Apr:
U-118
- 17 Apr:
USS
Freehold
- 26 April:
Narval
,
Kit
,
Kashalot
- 27 Apr:
USS
Courtney
,
USS
Otis W. Douglas
- 28 Apr:
USS
Gypsum Queen
,
USS
James
- April (unknown date):
Borets za Svobodu
- 4 May:
HMS
Cupar
- 5 May:
SMS
Leipzig
- 2 Jun:
Rucumilla
- 9 Jun:
HMS
L55
- 16 Jun:
HMS
Kinross
- 18 Jun:
Oleg
- 21 Jun:
Scuttling of the German fleet at Scapa Flow
?
SMS
Bayern
,
SMS
Bremse
,
SMS
Brummer
,
SMS
Coln
,
SMS
Dresden
,
SMS
Derfflinger
,
SMS
Emden
,
SMS
Friedrich der Grosse
,
SMS
G38
,
SMS
G39
,
SMS
G40
,
SMS
Hindenburg
,
SMS
Grosser Kurfurst
,
SMS
Kaiser
,
SMS
Kaiserin
,
SMS
Karlsruhe
,
SMS
Konig
,
SMS
Konig Albert
,
SMS
Kronprinz Wilhelm
,
SMS
Markgraf
,
SMS
Moltke
,
SMS
Prinzregent Luitpold
,
SMS
S32
,
SMS
S36
,
SMS
S50
,
SMS
Seydlitz
,
SMS
V45
,
SMS
V46
,
SMS
Von der Tann
,
SMS
G102
- 28 Jun:
Duchess of Richmond
- Jun (unknown date):
Erinpura
- 27 Jul:
USS
May
- 30 Jul:
USS
G-2
- 13 Aug:
Basilicata
- 18 Aug:
Dvina
- 1 Sep:
HMS
Vittoria
- 4 Sep:
HMS
Verulam
- 8 Sep:
Valbanera
- 9 Sep:
USS
St. Sebastian
,
USS
SP-471
- 10 Sep:
USS
Coco
,
USS
Katherine K.
,
USS
Patrol No. 1
,
USS
Sea Hawk
- 11 Sep:
USS
Helena I
- 16 Sep:
HMS
M25
,
HMS
M27
,
West Arvada
- 29 Sep:
ML-18
,
ML-62
,
ML-191
,
Ossifrage
- 30 Sep:
August Helmerich
- 3 Oct:
Frank O'Connor
- 7 Oct:
Sizergh Castle
- 9 Oct:
Daram
- 17 Oct:
SMS
Kaiser Franz Joseph I
- 18 Oct:
HMS
H41
- 21 Oct
Gavriil
- 31 Oct:
Fazilka
- 13 Nov:
Council Bluffs
- 22 Nov:
Myron
- 24 Nov:
Poltava
- 12 Dec:
USS
Kerwood
- 18 Dec:
Cufic
- Unknown date:
UB-14
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Other incidents
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