Remembering Iolaire
In the early hours of January 1st 1919 the Iolaire, a naval yacht carrying serviceman home, ran aground in sight of Stornoway in the Outer Hebrides. Today the loss is remembered.
In the early hours of January 1st 1919 the Iolaire, a naval yacht carrying servicemen home, ran aground within sight of Stornoway Harbour in the Outer Hebrides. On board were 280 men, and by dawn 201 had perished. The island of Lewis was devastated by the loss.
'Future generations will speak of it as the blackest day in the history of the island.' William Grant, founder of the Stornoway Gazette January 1919
One hundred years after the tragedy, musician Anna Murray looks at the impact it had on the community and the way in which artists have responded to the event. For many years it was hardly spoken about, and a veil of silence lay over the island. Today she discovers that art has played its part in helping heal the deep wounds created by one of the worst peacetime maritime disasters in the British Isles.
Image credit: image supplied by Acair of HMY Iolaire, photo supplied to Acair by author Malcolm MacDonald for The Darkest Dawn.
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The loss of HMY Iolaire
HMY Iolaire ran onto rocks on the Isle of Lewis on New Year鈥檚 morning 1919.
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Cunntasan R猫idio
Verbal accounts of Iolaire's losses (in Gaelic)
Iolaire on 麻豆社 ALBA and 麻豆社 Radio nan G脿idheal
100 years on 麻豆社 ALBA and 麻豆社 Radio nan G脿idheal join the communities reflecting on the disaster and finding new ways of exploring its impact and remembering those who lost their lives.
(with English translation) for the programmes on聽麻豆社 ALBA and 麻豆社 Radio nan G脿idheal
Broadcast
- Wed 2 Jan 2019 12:00麻豆社 Radio Scotland
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