[Iain MacIlleathain - Preseantair] ‘S e Call na h-Iolaire air madainn na Bliadhna Ùire ann an naoi ceud deug ‘s a naoi-deug fhathast an call beatha as motha de shoitheach Bhreatannach ann an uisgeachan nan dùthcha aig àm-sìth. Chaochail còrr is dà cheud duine nuair a chaidh a gheat air Biastan Thuilm aig beul Chala Steòrnabhaigh. A-nis, tha fear às an Rubha air modail dhen bhàta a thogail mar chuimhneachan oirre. Seo Aonghas Dòmhnallach.
[Aonghas Dòmhnallach – Neach-aithris] ‘S e cuimhne dhuilich a th’ aig Muinntir nan Eilean air an Iolaire agus thug e bliadhnaichean mòra fiù ‘s mus deach cuimhneachan a thogail dìreach os cionn Biastan Thuilm far an deach i fodha madainn na Bliadhna Ùire naoi ceud deug ‘s a naoi-deug. ‘S e glè bheag de dheilbh a th’ air fhàgail dhen t-soitheach agus cha robh togail a samhail furasta fiù ‘s do dh’eòlaiche.
[Iain Caimbeul] ‘S e a thòisich seo, memorial a bh’ aca airson na h-Iolaire, chan eil fhios ‘am mu dhà no trì bliadhnaichean roimhe. Smaoinich mi an uair sin. Cha robh drawings, no plans no càil den t-seòrsa ann, aon picture. Sin uile, sin uile a bh’ agam. Aon rud a tha fios agam a tha ceart, sin na gunnaichean, fhuair mi drawings son nan gunnaichean. Sin aon rud a tha fios agam a tha ceart oirre.
[Aonghas Dòmhnallach – Neach-aithris] Chaidh dà rannsachadh a dhèanamh aig an àm, rannsachadh na Nèibhidh fhèin agus rannsachadh Cùirt an t-Siorraidh ann an Steòrnabhagh.
[Calum Dòmhnallach] A lot of people in Lewis tend to call it a whitewash and I would tend to agree with that because there’s only so many, about twenty survivors called, when you had, you know, I think it was about eighty men survived. I think that they wanted to wash their hands of it and forget about it after a long war in which so many sailors lost their lives.
[Aonghas Dòmhnallach – Neach-aithris] Thèid an t-soitheach a tha seo a taisbeanadh a-nise ann an Ionad-aiseig Steòrnabhaigh mar chuimhneachan air a bhuille dh’fhuiling na h-Eileanan agus an sgeulachdan cianail a bhuail air gach baile.
[Calum Dòmhnallach] Just across the loch there’s it’s 10 Portnaguran, one of the boys that was lost came from that and they had already lost three sons so to have lost a fourth son in such tragic circumstances. It’s hard to bear and I know the mother lived until she was in her nineties and she must have had a terrible new year, every new year after the disaster.
[Iain Caimbeul] Bodach a bha an ath dhoras ann an siud, Iain ‘an Anndra, a chanadh iad ris, fhuair esan aiste, is choisich e à Steòrnabhagh dhachaigh ann an seo, sin an aon duine a dh’aithnichinn-sa a bh’ oirre.
[Aonghas Dòmhnallach – Neach-aithris] Is dè seòrsa buaidh a tha sibh a’ smaoineachadh a thug an sgrios a bha sin air an àite?
[Iain Caimbeul] Ò, tha e a’ dol fhathast. Bidh a-chaoidh, tha mi a’ smaoineachadh.
[Iain MacLean - Presenter] The Iolaire disaster on the morning of the New Year in 1919 is still the biggest loss of life on British ship in the country’s waters at peace-time. More than two hundred men died when the boat hit the Beasts of Holme on Stornoway Harbour. Now, someone in Point has made a model of the boat as a memorial to her. Here is Angus MacDonald.
[Angus Macdonald – Reporter] It is a difficult memory that the people of the islands have of the Iolaire and it took years before a memorial was built above the Beasts of Holm where she went down on New Year’s morning in 1919. There are very few images left of the ship so it was difficult to built a likeness, even for an expert.
[Iain Campbell] What started this, there was a memorial for the Iolaire, I don’t know two or three years ago. I thought then. There were no drawings, no plans or anything of that type, one picture. That is it, that is all I had. One thing that I know is right is the guns, I got drawings for the guns. That is the one thing I know is right on her.
[Angus Macdonald – Reporter] Two inquiries were done at the time, the Navy’s own inquiry and Stornoway’s Sheriff Court.
[Malcolm MacDonald] A lot of people in Lewis tend to call it a whitewash and I would tend to agree with that because there’s only so many, about twenty survivors called, when you had, you know, I think it was about eighty men survived. I think that they wanted to wash their hands of it and forget about it after a long war in which so many sailors lost their lives.
[Angus Macdonald – Reporter] This ship will be exhibited now in the Stornoway Ferry Terminal as a memorial to the suffering of the people of the Islands and the dreadful stories that impacted on each town.
[Malcolm MacDonald] Just across the loch there’s it’s 10 Portnaguran, one of the boys that was lost came from that and they had already lost three sons so to have lost a fourth son in such tragic circumstances. It’s hard to bear and I know the mother lived until she was in her nineties and she must have had a terrible new year, every new year after the disaster.
[Iain Campbell] The old man next door, Iain, the son of Andrew, they called him, he got of her and he walked home from Stornoway, he is the one man I knew who was on her.
[Angus Macdonald – Reporter] What sort of impact do you think the disaster had on the area?
[Iain Campbell] Oh, it is still going on. It will go on forever, I think.
[Iain MacIlleathain - Preseantair] ‘S e Call na h-Iolaire air madainn na Bliadhna Ùire ann an naoi ceud deug ‘s a naoi-deug fhathast an call beatha as motha de shoitheach Bhreatannach ann an uisgeachan nan dùthcha aig àm-sìth. Chaochail còrr is dà cheud duine nuair a chaidh a gheat air Biastan Thuilm aig beul Chala Steòrnabhaigh. A-nis, tha fear às an Rubha air modail dhen bhàta a thogail mar chuimhneachan oirre. Seo Aonghas Dòmhnallach.
[Aonghas Dòmhnallach – Neach-aithris] ‘S e cuimhne dhuilich a th’ aig Muinntir nan Eilean air an Iolaire agus thug e bliadhnaichean mòra fiù ‘s mus deach cuimhneachan a thogail dìreach os cionn Biastan Thuilm far an deach i fodha madainn na Bliadhna Ùire naoi ceud deug ‘s a naoi-deug. ‘S e glè bheag de dheilbh a th’ air fhàgail dhen t-soitheach agus cha robh togail a samhail furasta fiù ‘s do dh’eòlaiche.
[Iain Caimbeul] ‘S e a thòisich seo, memorial a bh’ aca airson na h-Iolaire, chan eil fhios ‘am mu dhà no trì bliadhnaichean roimhe. Smaoinich mi an uair sin. Cha robh drawings, no plans no càil den t-seòrsa ann, aon picture. Sin uile, sin uile a bh’ agam. Aon rud a tha fios agam a tha ceart, sin na gunnaichean, fhuair mi drawings son nan gunnaichean. Sin aon rud a tha fios agam a tha ceart oirre.
[Aonghas Dòmhnallach – Neach-aithris] Chaidh dà rannsachadh a dhèanamh aig an àm, rannsachadh na Nèibhidh fhèin agus rannsachadh Cùirt an t-Siorraidh ann an Steòrnabhagh.
[Calum Dòmhnallach] A lot of people in Lewis tend to call it a whitewash and I would tend to agree with that because there’s only so many, about twenty survivors called, when you had, you know, I think it was about eighty men survived. I think that they wanted to wash their hands of it and forget about it after a long war in which so many sailors lost their lives.
[Aonghas Dòmhnallach – Neach-aithris] Thèid an t-soitheach a tha seo a taisbeanadh a-nise ann an Ionad-aiseig Steòrnabhaigh mar chuimhneachan air a bhuille dh’fhuiling na h-Eileanan agus an sgeulachdan cianail a bhuail air gach baile.
[Calum Dòmhnallach] Just across the loch there’s it’s 10 Portnaguran, one of the boys that was lost came from that and they had already lost three sons so to have lost a fourth son in such tragic circumstances. It’s hard to bear and I know the mother lived until she was in her nineties and she must have had a terrible new year, every new year after the disaster.
[Iain Caimbeul] Bodach a bha an ath dhoras ann an siud, Iain ‘an Anndra, a chanadh iad ris, fhuair esan aiste, is choisich e à Steòrnabhagh dhachaigh ann an seo, sin an aon duine a dh’aithnichinn-sa a bh’ oirre.
[Aonghas Dòmhnallach – Neach-aithris] Is dè seòrsa buaidh a tha sibh a’ smaoineachadh a thug an sgrios a bha sin air an àite?
[Iain Caimbeul] Ò, tha e a’ dol fhathast. Bidh a-chaoidh, tha mi a’ smaoineachadh.
[Iain MacLean - Presenter] The Iolaire disaster on the morning of the New Year in 1919 is still the biggest loss of life on British ship in the country’s waters at peace-time. More than two hundred men died when the boat hit the Beasts of Holme on Stornoway Harbour. Now, someone in Point has made a model of the boat as a memorial to her. Here is Angus MacDonald.
[Angus Macdonald – Reporter] It is a difficult memory that the people of the islands have of the Iolaire and it took years before a memorial was built above the Beasts of Holm where she went down on New Year’s morning in 1919. There are very few images left of the ship so it was difficult to built a likeness, even for an expert.
[Iain Campbell] What started this, there was a memorial for the Iolaire, I don’t know two or three years ago. I thought then. There were no drawings, no plans or anything of that type, one picture. That is it, that is all I had. One thing that I know is right is the guns, I got drawings for the guns. That is the one thing I know is right on her.
[Angus Macdonald – Reporter] Two inquiries were done at the time, the Navy’s own inquiry and Stornoway’s Sheriff Court.
[Malcolm MacDonald] A lot of people in Lewis tend to call it a whitewash and I would tend to agree with that because there’s only so many, about twenty survivors called, when you had, you know, I think it was about eighty men survived. I think that they wanted to wash their hands of it and forget about it after a long war in which so many sailors lost their lives.
[Angus Macdonald – Reporter] This ship will be exhibited now in the Stornoway Ferry Terminal as a memorial to the suffering of the people of the Islands and the dreadful stories that impacted on each town.
[Malcolm MacDonald] Just across the loch there’s it’s 10 Portnaguran, one of the boys that was lost came from that and they had already lost three sons so to have lost a fourth son in such tragic circumstances. It’s hard to bear and I know the mother lived until she was in her nineties and she must have had a terrible new year, every new year after the disaster.
[Iain Campbell] The old man next door, Iain, the son of Andrew, they called him, he got of her and he walked home from Stornoway, he is the one man I knew who was on her.
[Angus Macdonald – Reporter] What sort of impact do you think the disaster had on the area?
[Iain Campbell] Oh, it is still going on. It will go on forever, I think.