For a small Hebridean community that had more than paid her dues in the numbers of men that left her to go to war it was a tragedy no words could express, there was hardly a village or community that did not lose someone, a husband, a father, a son, a brother, an uncle or a fiancé and the island descended into shock and silence for many years afterwards, “a wall of grief came down” but through the grief and anguish answers were demanded. How could such a tragedy have happened? Who was to blame?
The Isle of Lewis and the Great War
Although the Outer Hebrides are famed for their wildlife, archaeology and stunning beaches now, back in the early 1900s Island life was hard for the islanders. Most Islanders lived in close-knit fishing and crofting communities, with life and the success of the harvest dependent on vagaries of the inhospitable weather and the short growing seasons. The language of the islands was Gaelic and children did not start to learn English until they went to school. A strong sense of community prevailed with Church and daily prayer central to island life. The sabbath is still observed by many on the islands of Lewis and Harris and it was only in 2009 that Sunday sailing of the passenger ferry between Stornoway and Ullapool on the mainland was introduced against strong opposition and until recently the gates to children’s play parks were locked on a Sunday to deter use. Even today many shops, including Tesco, in Stornoway remain closed on a Sunday and holiday makers are amazed when they are requested not to hang out their washing on a Sunday.
Many islanders on Lewis and Harris lived in Blackhouses. These were low thick-walled stone cottages, with earth packing the gaps in the stone to make the cottage wind and watertight, and a roof constructed of heather and turf weighted down against the wind with stones. Although charming to look at today, Blackhouses were really not the most healthy of places to live being dark, damp and smoke filled, often without a chimney or any windows to let in light or air. The Blackhouse was divided into two and the crofter and his family shared the cottage with the animals of the croft. The dung from the animals was removed at various times of the year to be used as fertiliser. All occupants of the Blackhouse, human and animal, used the same single entrance to the property. Sometimes tubs of urine which was used for “waulking” which was a stage in the making of tweed cloth might be stored in the Blackhouse.
The Royal commission on Housing in Scotland appointed in 1912 reported in 1917 on living conditions in the islands:
“The death rate from phthisis (tuberculosis) is more than double what is was forty years ago, while in the county generally it has gone down 40 per cent. I am convinced that the housing conditions are the main factor in causing the annual toll of fifty deaths from consumption”
With the report of the committee on medical services in the highlands 1917 stating:
“That such a condition of affairs as we found in Lewis should exist within twenty-four hours of Westminster is scarcely credible. Nor is it credible from a national standpoint”.
As international tensions increased in the years before the outbreak of war a large proportion of men joined the services and undertook training at the naval base in Stornoway, ideally located to protect the west coast of Scotland against German naval attacks. In the final days before the war broke out 2340 Lewis men had enlisted and in all nearly 6200 served at some point during the conflict, all from an island with a population of 29000. Of those 6200 who signed up to fight, 3500 were in the navy. Islanders had a long seafaring history, many were fishermen and so their seafaring skills were in demand from the Admiralty and this saw Islanders serving in all of the major naval engagements of the war such as the Battle of Jutland, The Falkland Islands and Helgoland Bight as well as taking part in Churchill’s scheme to save Antwerp in the “race to the sea”
As was the case everywhere in the country, the departure of the male population of the islands to war had a big Impact on the community. There was hardly a fisherman left and the land was now to be farmed by the old, the women and the children. Men were lost in the conflict and never to return and after the armistice many left the shores after the war between 1919 and 1922 as part of overseas settlement scheme which was created as a solution to the problem of demobbed servicemen out of work and returning home. Some 3000 Lewis men left in the years after the war, including survivors of the Iolaire tragedy, leading to a steep decline the population of the islands
As well as the practicalities to be overcome there was also an emotional toll for the islanders as the casualty lists mounted during 1914-18. Villagers looked out to see the dreaded procession of the postmaster, dressed for mourning, accompanied by a church elder and sometimes the village nurse heading to break the news to a household of another loved one lost and felt the unimaginable relief when they walked past your house and on to another. Crofting villages paid a heavy price such as North Tolsta, a village of 80 houses, which lost 52 men during the 4 and half years of conflict. On one single day in April 1915 17 Island men died in the fighting at Ypres.
Death and mourning on the islands had their own set ritual. The remains of the deceased were watched - the meaning of the word wake - for 2 or 3 days depending on when the sabbath fell as no burials took place on the sabbath. The length of the wake was not simply of religious significance as this was a time when few doctors attended a death and with medical science and knowledge limited it was not unheard of a corpse to regain consciousness and find themselves in a coffin. A death was a community affair everyone with neighbours and relatives pitching in to assist the family of the deceased and the bereaved were never left without company and help, there was always someone on hand to offer comfort. After the wake the corpse was taken in procession to the cemetery for burial to which women were discouraged from attending.
The armistice and the end of the war
In November 1918 after four long years the war came to a close with the signing of the armistice bringing to an end the heart-breaking telegrams delivered by procession. For the men serving in the navy demobilisation would not be immediate though as they were still required for many duties such as the internment of the German fleet, on-going conflict in Russia, clearing of mines and operations against the spread of bolshevism in the Baltic. A few memorials actually state the date of the great war as being 1914-1919 for that reason. Finally, in late December 1918 many Lewis men were demobbed and allowed due to be home in time for Hogmanay which outranked Christmas in importance for the Scots until well into the 1970s.
The demobbed service men were transported from the South of England to Kyle of Lochalsh by train. Lt Commander Cuthbert Walsh who was in charge of organising the onward transport from Kyle had not been told how many men to expect or even when to expect them, the whole enterprise plagued by administrative incompetence by people far away on the south coast of England and London who had little grasp of the geography of Scotland. It was becoming increasingly obvious to the Admiralty officers in Kyle that the Sheila, the local mail steamship was too small to accommodate all of the men returning to Lewis, as was the original plan. The commander of the base in Stornoway was Rear Admiral Robert Boyle and he dispatched his depot ship HMY Iolaire from Stornoway that afternoon to assist with the transport of the men back to Stornoway. The Iolaire was under the command of Lt Commander Richard Mason with Lt Edmund Cotter as the navigating officer. On her way into Kyle Harbour the Iolaire hit the Pier although neither she nor the pier were damaged. Kyle is known for having tricky tides and it was not the first time this had happened to a ship on approach to Kyle however a lot was to be read into it in the coming weeks.
Walsh’s problems had been exacerbated yet further by another unexpected influx of ratings that afternoon and he asked Mason the fateful question “if necessary could you take 300 men?” to which Mason readily agreed, despite having only 80 lifebelts and lifeboats sufficient for 100. Normally the crew of the Iolaire would have numbered 40 however many were on leave so she had just over half her usual strength of crew. The navy possibly had a relaxed attitude to safety regulations and besides, who was going to tell all those Island men that they would not be home for Hogmanay after all?
And the Iolaire was not the Iolaire.
This Iolaire had only taken her name and position in Stornoway in October 1918, up until that point she was HMY Amalthaea. Many photos that exist supposedly of the Iolaire are actually of the original Iolaire which by the time of the disaster had already sailed south and been returned to her original owner as the war drew to an end. This version of the Iolaire was older, smaller, slower (max speed 10 knots), heavier, she had an iron hull and wasn’t designed for the additional weight of the guns added to her and was reported as liable to roll and pitch in heavy seas. To save on paperwork the two yachts simply swapped names.
The Skye men were sent on to Portree quickly and easily and it was decided that the Harris men were not to be transported to Tarbet until the 2nd of January. There were many stories of last minute decisions and swapping boats, men furtively boarding the Iolaire in order to try to get home quickly, unwilling to wait any longer, others changing ships so they could travel with friends and loved ones including 11 Harris men unwilling to wait 2 more days in Kyle instead prepared to land in Stornoway and make the long journey home by foot. Some may have assumed she was the original much faster Ioliare and scrambled to board her rather than the slower Sheila, or worse, have to remain at Kyle overnight or longer.
By now it was dark and the wind was rising.
At 19.30 Sheol an Iolaire – The iolaire sailed.
At 21.55 the Iolaire cleared south Rona Lighthouse. Testament from many on board that night stated that it was a clear night with good visibility although the winds were rising. It would not have been a particularly comfortable journey for the passengers crammed inside but the idea of music and singing going on is probably a bit of a creation intended to add to the pathos of the disaster, it is unlikely there was much more than a subdued wishing each other happy new year. These men would have been tired and hungry after a long journey from the south of England, sleeping or quietly catching up with friends. Many were carrying gifts for loved ones.
At 01:00 Mason retired leaving Cotter at the bridge and by now the weather was deteriorating with winds rising to gale force 8 from the south at midnight eventually reaching force 10 at 4am.
Stornoway lies on the eastern side of the isle of Lewis tucked into a deep harbour with a wide entrance. Despite the presence of obstacles such as rocks and the strong winds experienced in the islands year round it was not known as a place where many accidents occurred, testament perhaps to the sea faring experience and abilities of the islanders. Arnish point lighthouse marks the southern entrance. To the north the Eye Peninsular (Point) protrudes out into the Minch with the lighthouse of Tiumpan head at its very tip and just off the shore lie the sea skerries, Biastan Thulim or The Beasts of holm. These are visible just above the water at low tide.
Many of those on board were well familiar with the landscape of their local shore and watched as familiar landmarks came into view. Soon some of the Lewis men on deck began to realise something was amiss and became uneasy as the ship deviated from the familiar safe course into the harbour. This was noticed too by a passing fishing boat, the Spider, her crew commenting on her course as did the crew of the Sheila as she slowly made her way into port having left kyle half an hour after the Iolaire.
“we went up on deck and among those were my brother and a number of other boys from Ness. There was a gale but the Iolaire was sailing straight and steady until she changed course to port. If she had changed four or five minutes earlier she would have gone right into Stornoway, but she changed too late because the rocks of holm were right in front of her”
At 1.55 am on 1st January 1919 the Iolaire struck the Beasts of Holm.
“mountainous waves relentlessly lashing over towering cliffs with narrow ledges and jagged crags. The waves descended in a mighty cataract into the churning, boiling and spuming depths below…the scene was terrible to behold. We were used to mines, torpedoes and shell fire but this struck fear in our hearts. We knew we were trapped, as no lifeboat could live in that maelstrom”
The Iolaire did not capsize immediately but listed badly on the rocks and some men some were flung overboard by the impact, some were washed overboard and others made the decision to jump and try to swim to safety only to be drowned or dashed against the rocks. None of those 50 or 60 men survived. Safety boats were lowered but both were smashed to pieces with all aboard lost.
Men on board the stricken yacht found themselves trapped between the sea and the rocky shore pounded by waves, wide rising and the tide on the surge. There were not enough lifebelts to go around and not all who wore them survived as they could be of little assistance against being dashed on the rocks. Many died trapped on the lower deck, drowsy unable to escape in the darkness and the confusion and were found with their greatcoats still fastened. The shore was only 20m away but unreachable in the ferocious seas.
John Finlay MacLeod of Port of Ness managed to swim ashore with a rope allowing men to pull themselves to shore on it and some 40 lives were saved that way although not all who tried could hold on and were ripped away by the waves and washed away. Half the survivors lived thanks to the efforts of John Finlay Macleod and he was later awarded for his bravery. The last man to escape via the rope recounted a large flash, later understood to be a boiler exploding, and the yacht slid under the water. The Iolaire sank at 3.25am some 90 minutes after she first struck the Beasts of Holm.
For those who had made it to shore safety was not immediate. It was stormy, pitch black with a gale force wind and they were soaked through, freezing cold, and in shock. Those who survived had dispensed with their heavy boots and greatcoats too in order not to be weighed down while trying to swim ashore so they were also barefoot and still some two or three miles away from Stornoway.
Mr Anderson Young initially thought he had first footers at Stoneyfield when he heard the first knock on the door of his farmhouse but quickly grasped the seriousness of the situation. The Youngs opened their house to the cold wet traumatised survivors, fed and warmed them up as far as possible but some men simply walked on, still wet and in bare feet, determined to get home. Some Harris men just kept on walking for 2 days to get home and one survivor, thought by his family to be lost on the ship had actually sheltered behind a peat bank for 3 days before walking the 6 miles home. Many stayed a short while at the farmhouse before attempting to make their own way to Stornoway. Some reported to Stornoway barracks, dutiful to the last, where they were were taken to the sick bay in the barracks although some declined this in favour of going home. By 3.30am Five men had made it to the Imperial hotel in Stornoway which was the naval HQ and which was where Admiral Boyle was seeing in the new year. Boyle noted their confused state and how little information could be gained from them.
The rescue
If things had been chaotic on board then they were even more so on land.
William Saunders was the signalman at battery point in Stornoway on watch in the early hours of the morning of the 1st of January. Saunders was the first and only person on shore to notice that something wasn’t quite right and that a boat appeared to have gone in the wrong direction and had fired a blue light. Saunders reported this as a vessel requiring a pilot and Admiral Boyle was informed. At 2.20 Saunders reported that the boat was sending up rockets but the flares were mistakenly thought to be of the new year celebrations. Later in his account of the events of that night Boyle noted that a boat was sent out into the harbour but they failed to locate the Iolaire however a Lt Wenlock had set out on the pilot boat and tender HMD Budding Rose and found a ship in distress on the Beasts of Holm. He could do nothing to assist and reported back to Boyle. These differing accounts were not the first discrepancy to appear in the story.
The fishing boat the Spider coming into Stornoway harbour was also witness to the incident unfolding but she too was unable to provide assistance due to the weather and her size.
The Iolaire ran on to the Beasts of Holm in sight of Stornoway Battery and the Imperial Hotel. Stornoway is not a big town and so even on foot and carrying ropes men sent to assist in a rescue would have been there in a little over half an hour or so but Boyle ordered no one directly to the scene. Instead he gave orders to deploy the life-saving Breeches Buoy apparatus which was a basic rope based system which was fired to the vessel in distress by means of a rocket and which allows men to be transferred from the ship to the shore via something similar to a zip line. It was a substantial item of kit which weighed about one ton and was designed to be pulled by horse. In the early hours of news years day there were no horses to be found, nor any type of vehicle for that matter.
At 3.25am Chief Officer Boxall of the coast guard was roused from his bed and ordered to deploy the lifesaving equipment. When he arrived at Battery point Warrant Officer Barnes informed him there were no horses or vehicles so Boxall requested sufficient men instead of horses to drag the lifesaving apparatus to Stoneyfield. 19 men were deployed from the battery to undertake this task of dragging the lifesaving equipment in the dark, stormy night over rough terrain. They left Stornoway at 3.50 am, some two hours after the Iolaire first ran aground. In Barnes’s account of that night he was adamant that he had only received word from Boyle at 3am whereas Boyle insisted that it was received at 2.10am, another discrepancy in the account.
The party proceeded painfully slowly hauling the weighty lifesaving apparatus behind them eventually reaching Stoneyfield Farm where some survivors had taken shelter. Barnes and another man, a local who knew the area scoured the shore in the darkness but only found wreckage and no survivors.
It was 2.45am before Boyles order was sent to the coastguard to send out the lifeboat, nearly an hour after the Iolaire first ran aground. The man tasked with trying to raise a crew for the lifeboat was Sub Lt Murray but despite his best efforts, there were not enough people found willing to man the lifeboat. Eventually Murray had to give up and reported back to the Imperial Hotel. By now it was 4.30am. Next Murray went in search of a car which was not something commonly owned on the island but between widespread intoxication and local reluctance was unable to commandeer one despite actually trying to break into premises where he believed on may have been kept. In this the people of Stornoway themselves could be found wanting and Murray’s requests for help were met with a certain drunken indifference. At 6.30am the Post Masters car drew up at the Post Office and Murray was able to use that to drive to the base, collect the Doctor, stretchers and first aid kits and drive on to Sandwick, the point nearest to the position of the Iolaire that they could reach by road. Moving by now on foot they reached Stoneyfield farm at 7.30am. The Iolaire had run aground four and a half hours earlier.
It started to get light by about 8.30am so Murray made his way to the site of the wreck where he was met with the terrible sight. Bodies were floating in the water and washed up on the shore and survivors were being tended to at Stoneyfield farm or had started making their way home by foot.
They were also met with a miraculous sight. One man, Donald Morrison “Am Patch” had climbed the mast of the ship which was still exposed above the waves and stayed there. He was not rescued until after 9am the next morning. A whaler boat was pouring oil on the seas to calm the water to allow a small motor launch to get very close to the Iolaire’s mast and carry out the rescue. Donald Morrison was transported back to Stornoway harbour apparently even offering to take an oar if need be.
At 6.10am Admiral Boyle made his first report of the loss of the vessel to the admiralty in London by telegram.
The immediate aftermath
The following day a royal navy diver, Thomas George Gusterson, was sent down to look at the ship returning saying that it was full of bodies. He confirmed that it had appeared that a boiler had blown up which was supported by testimony from survivors that there was a flash and a bang. He refused to go dive the wreck again was haunted for the rest of his life by what he had seen.
The dead were now to be recovered and reclaimed by their families. This gruesome task fell to Lt Frederick Edward Townend, who under the circumstances in which he found himself did a thorough and sensitive job. The dead were recovered from the sea and brought up from the seafront in horse drawn carts to the ammunition store at the Battery which had been cleared out and turned into a mortuary. The bodies of the dead were covered with tarpaulins and a number was chalked on to the boot or, if there was no boot, a ticket was pinned to the uniform. Paper bags containing any personal effects found were laid next to the body with a corresponding number chalked on to it. Townsend seems to have handled the enormously difficult task that he was given with sensitivity making as easy as possible under the circumstances for the relatives to identify their loved ones. He too was later haunted his experience of the disaster “For months after it was all over I saw in my dreams rows of naval issue boots with numbers chalked on their soles”.
24 bodies were recovered by 2nd January but the registration of the deaths continued until December 1919. In the confusion of embarkment and lack of passenger manifest 17 men had been recorded twice and two men had not been recorded at all. As bodies were identified they were handed over to relatives and were transported in processions of carts to the villages and slowly the dead were sent home. Friends and relatives combed the shores looking for the missing and sometimes the sea gave up her gruesome harvest. In the summer of 1919 two young fisherman found one body in their nets, by now beyond identification.
There were also tales of survival and loved ones reunited with families. One woman from Harris believed her husband was dead due to finding a cap with his name written inside only to find out by telegram that he had remained in Kyle to travel by the transport arranged for the Harris men, such was the added complexity of men sharing the same names. There were six men by the name of John Macleod on board the Iolaire when she sailed.
There were also amazing stories such as that of Chrissie Mckenzie who came to the battery to identify her dead brother only to spot the faintest signs of life much to the embarrassment of the officers. Presumably the cold had slowed all signs of life enough to allow him to survive.
The inquiry
As day dawned the full horror of what had happened to the Iolaire began to be realised and news spread as traumatised survivors made their way home. People gathered in Stornoway harbour or at home in their villages waiting for news of loved ones. With fear and grief touching so many homes in such a small community men who made it home and were in no state to be able to recount their experiences had to suffer the fearful questions of those searching for loved ones.
Amidst the grief questions began to be asked. Rear Admiral Boyle in charge at Stornoway telegraphed his superiors at the Admiralty in London asking for direction and was told to hold a court of inquiry which he hurriedly did as the rumours and the anger grew. Inebriation of the crew, that they were not in a fit state to sail the ship, was the main story circulating particularly given the accident a Kyle pier prior to the men boarding and heightened due to the Isle of Lewis having a complex relationship with alcohol with prohibition voted for two years later. Boyle telegraphed Walsh in Kyle requesting his opinion on the matter and Walsh confirmed that he had no reason to suspect that Mason and his crew were not fit for duty. It is worth noting though that both Boyle and Walsh use the term “fit state to take charge” and that sailors above a certain rank were still allowed their daily tot of “grog” which would be significant enough to put you well over the drink driving limit in England nowadays (there is a zero limit in Scotland).
On the 7th of January the survivors were summoned back to Stornoway to testify, which was very harsh given the circumstances and some were excused on the grounds of ill health so their testimony was never included. And for these men who were to testify it would have been another traumatic experience. They were still in shock and although their English was good it was not their native language or their language of thought.
During the following week all of the survivors who had made the journey back to Stornoway were interviewed and 25 of them were told that they were required in court and the others sent home. It was not entirely clear on what basis the 25 were selected but their evidence was deemed “of value” but it is more than likely to have been those that corroborated the Admiralty’s account of the incident. This process gave Boyle sufficient time to opportunity to dispose of evidence of anyone likely to implicate an officer and the focus of the inquiry was put on the failures of civilians such as the one man who refused to lend his car that night and the admiralty was spared the blame.
Boyle was never called to testify leaving many questions unanswered. The Imperial hotel was connected by wireless to the barracks and men could have been quickly summoned that night to assist in the rescue so why were they not called? Why did the admiralty not requisition the lorries that the very next day were used to transport the bodies of the dead back to Battery Point? The naval response on land was chaotic but the admiralty were never to shoulder any of the blame.
By close of day on the 8th January Boyle typed up and sent his report to the admiralty. He cited no evidence as to how the accident happened as the officers did not survive and concluded that “no opinion can be given as to whether blame is attributable to anyone”
Conclusions of the inquiry.
Boyles conclusion was as follows:
“We have honour to report that in compliance with your memorandum No. 19/13 of 7th January, we have held a strict and careful inquiry into the circumstances attending the loss of MN Yacht 056 Iolaire stranded on the Biastan Holm rocks at approx. 0150 on Wednesday 1st January, and then drifted to the shore to the northward of the rocks and became a total wreck.
There is no evidence to explain how the accident occurred as none of the officers onboard, or the helmsman or lookouts who were on deck at the time are among the survivors, and no opinion can be given as to whether blame is attributable to anyone in the matter.
The court is of further opinion that no adequate or properly organised attempt was made to save the lives of those on board; the only steps taken were to fire rockets, burn blue lights and blow the whistle to attract attention. The boats appear to have been lowered without orders or guidance, and a hawser was got ashore from the stern. Orders from the bridge were subsequently given to bring the hawser amidship to gain better lea”
The report of the naval inquiry was sent to the Admiralty but not released for publication until 50 years later the conclusion of which was that there was no evidence of what happened, no blame could be attributable to any one individual but that there was no properly organised attempt to save lives after the boat had run aground. At the time the report was not made public leaving islanders dissatisfied although they had expected it would be a whitewash. Certain elements such as the lifesaving rope was in place due to “orders from the bridge” were simply untrue, this was done on initiative of the passengers. Mclean was also on deck until relived by Leggat at 1am.
In the face of the refusal to release the report the public clamour grew and the rumour persisted that the crew were drunk and incapable on the night of the disaster.
Within two weeks of the disaster and with a large number of the missing still yet to be recovered the admiralty yet further angered the islanders with its complete disregard for them. Boyle agreed the sale of the wreck of the Iolaire before the bodies had been recovered. The situation turned ugly when a drifter that had been tasked with assisting with recovery of bodies was seen to be simply hoisting them up in nets with a derrick and sling in full view of the islanders. Under the threat of violence the crew of the drifter soon adopted a more sensitive approach.
The pressure grew to hold a fatal accident inquiry and this was taken up in the House of Commons by the Western Isles MP Dr Murray resulting in an embarrassing U-turn by the Admiralty and a date was set for February 1919.
The public inquiry
At the inquiry Lt Walsh testified to the chaos of the overloaded disorganised Admiralty system of transport at Kyle when the men embarked on the final leg of the journey home. It might have been sensible to hold the men at Kyle or elsewhere nearby but the logistics of accommodating them and feeding them when many were just so desperate to get home would have been nearly impossible on that December night.
Testimony was given by James MacLean, acting quartermaster, who came on duty at midnight. At 1am MacLean was relieved by Ernest Leggett and had gone below deck to rouse the anchormen and he testified that Mason was nowhere to be seen as the Iolaire approached Stornoway and no deckhand was posted as a lookout. The captain of the Shelia confirmed that it would have been normal to have two men posted as lookouts but the Iolaire was sailing short handed. Crew and passengers alike testified that those in command made little attempt to give orders or save lives indeed the officers in command of the Iolaire appear to have been conspicuous by their silence. It also worth remembering that the Iolaire was nearly 200 ft long and in howling gale there were next to no means of communicating in the dark and this was not helped by her construction with the bridge and wheelhouse more than half her length from her bow and the wheelhouse was lower down beneath the bridge with limited visibility. Cotter, the chief navigating officer, was inside the wheelhouse when she struck the rocks.
Many questions surround the actions of Mason that night. Why was he not present on the bridge where the Iolaire was approaching Stornoway as would be expected of a commanding officer? And why did he not act to take command when the disaster occurred? Whatever happened there was a huge failure of leadership and disintegration of command. No orders were given and those on board acted on their own initiative to save their own lives and those of their companions. Mason perished in the wreck and yet further mystery surrounds the later discovery of a body on the shore wearing an officer’s uniform but also wearing two life belts. Inevitably the body was said by Islanders to be Masons but could just have easily been that of Cotter or Sub Lt Rankin, the chief engineer, neither of whom survived. The body wearing the two life jackets was quickly removed by the Admiralty.
As Boyle had established at the court of inquiry in January the telegraphist Leonard Welch did speak to Mason immediately after the Iolaire had run aground who gave instructions for distress signals to be sent as Welch tried to get the broken wireless set working. He was not able to send any distress signals as his radio set was not working. It is unclear if the radio equipment was damaged when the Iolaire hit the rocks or if it was ever tested prior to sailing and therefore did it ever work?
Welch was not called to testify at the public inquiry and it is unclear why. It is possible that he was redeployed by the Admiralty shortly after the disaster and was far away at sea, unable to return for the public inquiry but equally it is possible his testimony would have shown that the telegraph equipment was not tested as part of a safety check prior to sailing which was something that was heavily scrutinised after the Titanic disaster nearly seven years previously. It is also possible that Welch was that last man to speak to Mason and to see him alive and therefore would have been able to testify as to whether he could smell alcohol on his commanding officers breath or whether Mason appeared to be under the influence.
The men on deck knew something was amiss and the sudden change in the vessels course was something that several survivors noted in their evidence. Some reported seeing an expanse of land to the starboard which they would not have expected to see and the men on board were skilled sailors who knew their home waters well. Their testimony all agreed that despite the strong winds it was a clear night with nothing to obscure the view of the lighthouses and all of the lights were working correctly.
Other issues that came to light were that the number of life belts and life boats were insufficient for the number of men although that was less relevant given that the lifeboats were smashed against the rocks causing them to break up and the same fate met men who found themselves in the sea, for whom drowning was not the main cause of death. After the sinking of the Titanic the inquiry made several recommendations regarding provision of life belts and life boats but these had not passed into law due to the outbreak of war soon afterwards. Other points that were noted were that flares and rockets were fired but mistaken for part of the new year celebrations and that a searchlight on board was not used and the guns on the ship were not fired to draw attention. The reason for this was never established.
Conclusion of the jury
The jury unanimously find (1) that about 1.55am in the morning of 1st January 1919, HM Yacht Iolaire went ashore and was wrecked on the rocks inside the “Beasts” situated near Holm Point in the parish of Stornoway, Island of Lewis and County of Ross and Cromarty (2) that the deaths resulting therefrom amounted to 205 and that the cause of death was suffocation due to submersion (3) that the officer in charge on said occasion did not exercise sufficient prudence in approaching the harbours (4) that the boat did not slow down, and that a look out was not on duty at the time of the accident (5) that the number of lifebelts, boats and rafts was insufficient for the number of people carried and that no orders were given by the officers with a view to saving life and further that there was a loss of valuable time between the signals of distress, and the arrival of the life saving apparatus in the vicinity of the wreck.
The jury recommend (1) that drastic improvements should be made immediately for conveying the life saving apparatus in future to give assistance in cases of ships in distress (2) that the Lighthouse Commissioners take into consideration the questions of putting up a light on the Holm side of the harbour (3) that the government in future will provide adequate and safe travelling facilities for Naval ratings and soldiers.
The jury desire to add that they are satisfied that no one on board was under the influence of intoxicating liquor and also that there was no panic on board after the vessel struck”
Boyle, the missing witness, not called to the inquiry. Was it recognised by the Admiralty that his actions on that night left much to be desired? Boyle was quickly removed from Stornoway yet giving further feeling that the matter was being swept under the carpet by the Admiralty. Boyle himself appealed to his Admiralty superiors for them to make a statement to the press vindicating him to which he received a short sharp refusal from the Admiralty who were clearly unwilling to reopen the case. The question of life saving apparatus and harbour lights were passed to the relevant boards to deal with.
Dr Donald Murray, the island's first MP, was sworn in to parliament in March 1919 and his first question to the house was whether safe provision could be made for naval ratings travelling home to the islands and for the right of returning servicemen to have crofts (smallholdings) from which they could make a living. He also objected to proposals for salvage of the wreck due to the number of bodies that were still lost. The Admiralty studies the findings and Dr Murray tabled a parliamentary question about it. Sensing the trap that to confirm that better arrangements would be made was to admit that the existing arrangements had been at fault in the first place the Admiralty were not willing to make a statement. The RNR depot at Stornoway closed that year.
The Isle of Lewis after the Iolaire
The results of the public enquiry did nothing to help the bereaved and the islands were left shocked and numbed by the tragedy. For months afterwards bodies were still being recovered by friends and relatives and funerals became an almost everyday occurrence. To the islanders the Admiralty and the government seemed dismissive of the whole incident and it was felt that had this happened in the south of England it would have attracted a lot more attention. The surviving crewmen were met with hostility and quickly moved from the island which was unwarranted as none of them were responsible for decision making but perhaps understandable.
With the world situation as it was, the end of 4 years of gruelling war, civil unrest in eastern Europe the rise of bolshevism the Iolaire did not feature heavily in the national newspapers although it was headline in the more local press and unfortunately some claims in the national papers were untrue and upsetting for the islanders such as reports suggesting that the men on board couldn’t understand instructions given in English and the courage of many on that night seemed to be completely ignored. Ultimately though it was left for the island communities to pull together and rebuild.
The sinking of the Iolaire wasboth a social and economic disaster. Two whole villages were completely deprived of their menfolk and bodies washed ashore in the coming weeks could not be identified and were buried in the nearest cemetery. Too add to the misery the flu pandemic was rife and there was also a diphtheria outbreak. Struggling under the weight of the number of burials Stornoway ran out of coffins and more had to be transported over from the mainland. The numbers speak for themselves - in 1918 there were 39 burials in the parish of Ness, In 1920 there were 46 but in 1919, excluding those who perished on the Iolaire, there were 95 burials.
There was barely a family untouched by the tragedy in some way. Close communities provided the safety net but many children at the time never heard the tragedy spoken of publicly. John Finlay MacLeod who secured the rope didn’t speak of the tragedy to his son until 20 years after and then only once again after that. Many who were children then recall that it was a taboo subject. It was as though what has been called a wall of silence was to descend on this these islands left numb with grief. Many survivors appeared to suffer what could only be described as survivor’s grief and hid away when neighbours called and most were demobbed or given an extended period of leave, and others given a disablement pension.
Soon messages of condolences came flooding in as did offers of financial help. Then as now in the aftermath of a disaster appeals people were keen to play their part to assist and a public appeal for funds was set up and a committee appointed, fund raising concerts held, and a large sum raised. Claimants came forward, some with more genuine cases than others but resentment on the island grew towards those recipients of the Iolaire disaster fund as their loved ones had died in the Great War but were not entitled to receive anything over and above a widows pension. Money created its own set of problems then as it does now.
Memory
After the first wave of reporting of the tragedy itself had died down it would be some time before the silence of grief would be penetrated by any attempt to summarise the events of 1st January 1919 or make sense of what happened. At the clifftops above Holm the mast of the Iolaire could be seen and people were drawn to this vantage point and a cairn of stones grew as people laid a tribute.
On the 14th January at the conclusion of diving operations around the wreck a service was held on board HMT Kimberly which was anchored close by. At this point many men were still missing and for those bodies recovered the Admiralty arranged for CWGC RN headstones in Sandwick New cemetery.
Before the armistice had been signed the first war memorial was unveiled at the Church in Ness, on Lewis dedicated to the fallen men of Lewis but no inscriptions were on it, it was left blank for what was to come. Small memorials were erected in villages and settlements all over the islands reflecting the price the islands paid in the Great War. At a public meeting in Stornoway a year on from the Iolaire disaster it was decided that a war memorial was needed for the island and Lord Leverhulme was elected as chairman of the appeals committee. The pages of the Stornoway Gazette caried appeals for funds and subscriptions and donations and Leverhulme himself donated a large amount. In May 1923 a competition for the design was won by JH Hall of Inverness and just over a year later the memorial on Cnoc nan Uan, a 300ft hill just outside the town, was completed. It is in a Scottish baronial style, 85 feet high with 16 bronze plaques carrying the names of the missing or dead. The internal work was completed in August 1924 and on 5th sept 1924 over 2000 people gathered for its unveiling by Leverhulme. Additions have since been made following later conflicts.
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| Stornoway war memorial sits on a hill above the town |
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| Stornoway war memorial |
Despite the number of memorials for the dead that were erected in the years following the Great War no attempts were made to mark the site of the Iolaire other than the small cairn of stones, the silence was absolute. The building of cairns was a well established custom so this simple monument of rough stones would have been a recognised place of remembrance for many particularly with so many bodies never recovered from the sea.
In 1939 proposals to erect a memorial specifically dedicated to those lost on the Iolaire was met with strong opposition. The proposal had opened old wounds and painful memories and the issue was not mentioned again until twenty years later when fund raising began. In 1960 the granite obelisk was unveiled on the headland at Holm Point overlooking the Beasts of Holm and it became the focal point for commemoration and gradually local perceptions changed although some residual bitterness remains. Over time other memorials were added such as one at Battery point. Gradually the Iolaire disaster was reawakened in the public consciousness by a small pamphlet published by the Stornoway Gazette in 1960 with the title “Sea Sorrow” and in 1961 a BBC radio programme interviewed some survivors followed a second programme marking the 50th anniversary of the tragedy. In 1973 the sinking of the Iolaire was subject of a BBC documentary and in 1978 a book in Gaelic called Call na h’Iolaire was published. Both the 70th and 90th anniversaries were also commemorated, and a book called “The Darkest Dawn” was released to mark the centenary of the disaster.
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| The memorial to the Iolaire next to the cairn of stones |
To mark the centenary of the First World War the Scottish Government wanted to ensure that that Scotlands contribution would be appropriately recognised. The commemoration of the centenary of the Iolaire disaster was the final event in the 4 year programme comprising a cliff top vigil, a new memorial designed by school children in the town, a new path laid to the memorial and a striking art work depicting the shape of a boat in the harbour lit up against the dark sea and skies. Prince Charles and Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minister of Scotland, attended a memorial service on new year’s day in 2019 and finally in 2019 the wreck of the Iolaire became an official war grave.
Conclusion - What did cause the Iolaire to run aground on the Beasts of Holm?
The Admiralty failings on that night of an overloaded unsafe transport and a chaotic rescue operation were no doubt responsible for the significant loss of life but so far it has been impossible to prove exactly what happened to cause the Iolaire to run aground on the skerries known as the Beasts of Holm in the first place. However, within a month of the tragedy Boyle had given away what he thought caused the accident by asking the opinion of an expert on navigation in the navy. Clearly Boyle suspected that a navigational error was to blame. The expert witness JA Walsh, Director of navigation, concluded that the CO of the Iolaire had found himself east of his intended position and altered his course bringing him further from Arnish Point than he realised. A separate report from Cpt John Alexander webster CBE Director of navigation at the RN Hydrographic Dept also pointed to the accident as being due to some form of navigational error. Neither of these were mentioned at the inquiry as Boyle tried to protect the Admiralty.
Over the years there have been various theories put forward as to why the Iolaire was following the wrong course into Stornoway harbour that night but two seem to have some credibility. The first was that Cotter, not wanting to be held up by the slower fishing boat, the Spider, as she made her way into Stornoway harbour attempted an overtaking manoeuvre and catastrophically misjudged it not returning the Iolaire to her original course having overtaken the little fishing boat. The second was that the wrong bearings were taken from South Rona light on Skye, that Cotter had mistaken Tiumpan head lighthouse for Arnish lighthouse and so the Iolaire followed the wrong course into Stornoway harbour.
The "Spider hypothesis" seems the less likely of the two. Both the Spider and the Iolaire were following the same course into Stornoway harbour so why having overtaken the Spider would the Iolaire not go back to her original course into the harbour? Testimony from those on board confirms that for several minutes they were aware of the land mass to the starboard side which the Eye Peninsular indicating that the Iolaire was following a course due west from Bayble. It is more likely that having set the wrong course from South Rona the Iolaire found herself east of the intended route with Cotter only discovering his mistake when Tiumpan head lighthouse is obscured by the land mass of the Eye Peninsula . Having realised his mistake Cotter alters course turning to the west towards Stornoway harbour but by then is too close to the shore and without lookouts on board to warn of the rock skerries protruding from the water.
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| A = The correct course to Stornoway Harbour B = The probable route of the Iolaire |
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| A The correct course to Stornoway Harbour B The Spider hypothesis - the Iolaire changes course to overtake The Spider C The most likely course of the Iolaire into Stornoway harbour and the course of her running aground on the Beasts of Holm. |
Further reading
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-46633716
When I Heard the Bell: The Loss of the Iolaire
by John MacLeod (Birlinn Limited 2010)
The Darkest Dawn: The story of the Iolaire Tragedy
by Malcolm MacDonald and John MacLeod (Acir, 2018)
Call na h’Iolaire by Tormod Calum Domhnallach
(1978 – Written in Gaelic)
Sea Sorrow: The story of the Iolaire Disaster Published
by the Stornoway Gazette in 1960 and reprinted in 1972
The Soap Man: Lewis, Harris and Lord Leverhulme, Chapter
5 - Fit for heroes – by Roger Hutchison (Birlinn Limited 2003)
[1] “Iolaire”
is Gaelic for eagle. This would be pronounced “yuh-la-rah” in Gaelic
[2] In this case the term “peacetime” is used to signify the period after the signing of the armistice. The First World War between Britain and Germany did not officially end until June 1919 and the signing of the treaty of Versailles which is why some war memorials, Stornoway included, note the date of the conflict as being 1914-1919. In some theatres of war the conflict was to continue for a further two years after 1919.
