Islanders remember men who drowned on way back from war
remains. You see, there were two ships at Kyle of Lochalsh that day.
The regular passenger ferry, the Sheila, could not accommodate the hundreds of veterans who’d arrived at the railhead, so the Iolaire was sent for.
Berths were allocated at random but some men crossed the pier, from ship to ship, to be with brothers and friends on the voyage. A man from our own village, Roddy MacKenzie, rose from the Sheila and on to the Iolaire and was lost.
My mother’s uncle, John MacKenzie from Back, did the opposite and was saved.
After four years of warfare, the lottery of life and death was played out on Kyle pier that afternoon.
Reverend James MacIver, Free Church minister in Stornoway, doesn’t doubt people would have questioned their faith in the wake of the Iolaire.
But, he assured me, it was trust in the wisdom of God and a strength of faith that finally bore them through, and it still abides.
Yesterday, the minister led a commemoration service aboard the Cal Mac ferry Loch Seaforth a short distance from the sinking. choolchildren from Stornoway threw 201 red carnations into the sea to remember the dead. Ashore, at the headland near the site of the wreck, dignitaries led by Prince Charles and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon gathered to unveil a sculpture by Will MacLean. They also met descendants of the victims.
History tells us what happened, art expresses how it felt and the cultural response has been incredible.
In Stornoway harbour, where the ship was to dock, a commemorative sculpture I designed with Malcolm Maclean has had a powerful public response. Songs, books, plays