Tragedy remembered

THE loss of 188 lives when two warships ran ashore in a snowstorm will be remembered in Orkney exactly a century on today.

The double tragedy occurred in atrocious weather on the night of January 12 1918. The destroyers HMS Opal and HMS Narborough were both wrecked on the rocks at South Ronaldsay. Just one crew member survived.

A wreath was being laid at the memorial at Windwick Bay, before the main event at the Cromarty Hall, St Margaret’s Hope.