HMS Iolaire

This is one of two defunct cannon now on the site of the former RNR (Royal Naval Reserve) base HMS Iolaire in Stornoway.

It was to this base that the remains of the sailors, who drowned in the sinking of HMY Iolaire on 1 January 1919, were brought. They were laid out in rows next to each other, with chalk marks on the soles of their shoes. Any personal effects, retrieved from the bodies, were put into a brown bag and placed next to the corpse. Relatives came down to identify their loved one, who had survived the horrors of the Great War, only to drown within sight of the lights of their hometown. About one hundred and forty were brought to the base, another sixty or so were never found.

A teapot sits on a shelf in a house in Lewis. It was placed there in the early hours of 1 January 1919, in anticipation of the return of one of the occupants, who had been away for the war. The teapot still stands there, 91 years later. The house is empty, its occupants long since departed, for distant parts or from this life. The sailor did not survive the sinking of the Iolaire and never came back to be warmed by the tea in the pot.

More on this story here.