Fall of An Eagle

by Mary Edward

The wreck of the Iolaire

PICTURE the scene: December 31st, 1918. The war has been over for six weeks. At Kyle of Lochalsh in the north west of Scotland, several hundred young men of the Royal Navy are pouring off the trains which have brought them from London, to be taken by ship to the Western Isles for their first home leave of peace-time. Men from Skye, from the Uists, from Lewis and Harris - and two vessels, the Macbrayne mailboat SS Sheila, and His Majesty’s Steamship, Iolaire.

A problem arises. The Sheila is already very full with civilians making the same journey, and so the sailors are lined up and divided according to destination. The Harris men for the Sheila and Tarbert, and the Lewis men for Stornoway on the Iolaire, a ship named in Gaelic for that majestic bird, the eagle. Some Harris men prefer to go via the Long Island and board the Iolaire, which sails at 7.30 pm with almost 300 men on board, passengers and crew.