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'evocative and wholly magnificent' --Roger Hutchinson, The Scotsman
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On 31 December 1918, hours from the first New Year of peace, hundreds of Royal Naval Reservists from the Isle of Lewis poured off successive trains onto the quayside at Kyle of Lochalsh. A chaotic Admiralty had made no adequate arrangements for their safe journey home. Corners were cut, an elderly and recently requisitioned steam-yacht was sent from Stornoway, and that evening HMY Iolaire sailed from Kyle of Lochalsh, grossly overloaded and with life-belts for less than a third of all on board. The Iolaire never made it. At two in the morning, in pitch-black and stormy conditions, she piled onto rocks only yards from the harbour entrance and just half a mile from Stornoway pier, where thronged friends and relatives eagerly awaited the return of their heroes. 205 men drowned, 188 of them natives of Lewis and Harris - men who had come through all the alarms and dangers of the First World War only to die on their own doorstep, at the mouth of a harbour many could themselves have navigated with ease, on a day precious to Highlanders for family, celebration and togetherness. The loss of the Iolaire remains the worst peacetime British disaster at sea since the sinking of the Titanic. Yet, beyond the Western Isles, few have ever heard of what is not only one of the cruellest events in our history but an extraordinary maritime mystery - a tale not only of bureaucrats in a hurry, unfathomable Naval incompetence and abiding, official contempt for the lives of Highlanders, but of individual heroism, astonishing escapes, heart-rending anecdote and the resilience and faith of a remarkable people. In the first English account and on the ninetieth anniversary of the 'dark ship', John MacLeod tells the story of the Iolaire, the astonishing commitment of the people of Lewis to the war against the Kaiser, its sickening end, and the way of life the disaster effectively destroyed - a tipping-point, he argues, in the overthrow of an old human economy and which deprived the Isle of Lewis of an entire generation.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
23 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
For the people of Lewis, this book is long overdue. It tells the story of an event that had a catastrophic effect on that Hebidean island and does this with great authority and style, writing of the sinking of the 'Iolaire' outside Stornoway harbour on 1st January 1919. The vessel was full of servicemen returning home after the First World War; over 200 being drowned a short distance from the island they called home. It was a toll of life all the more terrible after the sacrifice of the war that had gone before.
It was an incident, too, that had a cataclysmic effect on the people of the islands of Lewis and Harris, robbing many rural communities of the young men on whom their future depended.
The power of this book is the way it not only tells the story, but also the manner in which it places the tragedy in context, both local and 'international' and shows how it influenced the later history of these islands.
The author John Macleod deserves praise for the way he has mastered - what must have been - harrowing and gruelling information, and fashioned into a masterpiece of fluent and fascinating prose. As a native of that island, I am in his debt for the way he has done this. So, too, are many others who were brought up in a landscape scarred - even today - by this terrible event. At long last, he has removed the tight gap of both time and place and allowed its victims to speak.
It was an incident, too, that had a cataclysmic effect on the people of the islands of Lewis and Harris, robbing many rural communities of the young men on whom their future depended.
The power of this book is the way it not only tells the story, but also the manner in which it places the tragedy in context, both local and 'international' and shows how it influenced the later history of these islands.
The author John Macleod deserves praise for the way he has mastered - what must have been - harrowing and gruelling information, and fashioned into a masterpiece of fluent and fascinating prose. As a native of that island, I am in his debt for the way he has done this. So, too, are many others who were brought up in a landscape scarred - even today - by this terrible event. At long last, he has removed the tight gap of both time and place and allowed its victims to speak.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is a very well written, very interesting and moving account of a tragic and, now, little known incident. The author paints a vivid and sympathetic picture of island life, of the chaos of the night of the incident and its aftermath. I thoroughly recommend it. David Stallard
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
THE AUTHOR JOHN MACLEOD OBVIOUSLY INTERVIEWED FAMILIES WHO LOST LOVED ONES IN THIS TRAGIC EVENT.ITS TOLL ON FAMILIES AND THE ISLANDS WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN IT ALSO TOUCHED PEOPLE THROUGHOUT THE WORLD. WELL WORTH BUYING.
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