Panel stitched by:
Sea-Mistresses
Tracey MacLeod
Moira MacPherson
Gillian Scott-Forest
Stitched in:
Harris, South Uist
On the evening of 31 December 1918, the Admiralty yacht, HMY Iolaire (the name means ‘Eagle’ in Gaelic) sailed out of Kyle of Lochalsh bound for Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis. On board were 280 sailors returning home, having survived the horrors of the First World War. Within sight of the twinkling lights of the harbour, the yacht struck the infamous Beasts of Holm, a reef only twenty yards from the shore. In heaving seas, the yacht began to break up and 205 men were drowned, 181 of them Lewismen. In a small island community, the impact of this tragedy was huge. Only 75 survived and many of them because of the bravery and strength of John F. MacLeod of Ness. He swam ashore with a line, wrapped it around himself and about 40 men pulled themselves to safety along it. No satisfactory explanation for the disaster was ever produced and the legacy of the Iolaire is still felt. In 1958, a memorial was erected at Holm and a stone pillar built on the Beasts.
Panel stitched by:
Sea-Mistresses
Tracey MacLeod
Moira MacPherson
Gillian Scott-Forest
Stitched in:
Harris, South Uist