It has been announced that Prince Charles and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon will join the descendants of those who died in the Western Isles’ Iolaire maritime disaster of 1919 at the national commemorative service scheduled for New Year’s Day to mark 100 years since the tragedy. More than 200 men returning home aTher the end of the First World War, many of them from Lewis and Harris, drowned when the naval yacht sank.
HMY Iolaire hit a reef in bad weather near to Stornoway harbour on Lewis.
The commemoration event will see wreaths laid by Scotland’s most senior naval off cer Rear Admiral John Weale and Norman Macdonald, convener of Comhairle nan Eilean Siar. The service will be held at Stornoway’s Iolaire Memorial, which overlooks the scene of the sinking and will be conducted by The Very Reverend Dr Angus Morrison.