Pentland Road - 2

On this day, four sailors from Barra, Eriskay and Vatersay were lost in the sinking of SS Bagdale . The steamer was heading from the Clyde to Naples, when she was sunk by U-boat UC-66 off Ushant, Brittany, France, with the loss of 23 lives. UC-66 was lost about six weeks after the sinking of the Bagdale , on 12 June 1917. The story is that she was forced to dive and when she was depth-charged by HMT Sea King , her own mines blew up. Like in the sinking of the Bagdale , 23 lives were lost with UC-66, among them her captain, Herbert Pustkuchen. Sailor John Macdonald At the age of 17 Iain Néill Ghréitheir Son of Neil MacDonald, of No. 14, Cleat, Barra, Oban, Scotland. Born at Barra. Last known address in Barra: Cleat Service unit: Merchant Navy, SS Bagdale Memorial: Tower Hill Memorial Local memorial: Barra & Vatersay Sailor John Macdougall At the age of 20 Son of Effie McDougall (nee McInnes), of Coilleac, Eriskay, South Uist, Inverness, and the late Donard McDougall. ...

Armistice Day is nearly upon us, and I feel it is appropriate to post a reminder of my links that commemorate the Fallen from the Outer Hebrides in both World Wars. Centenary of Sacrifice is an on-going project, which will post the names of all the Fallen from these islands on the date, 100 years later, on which they died. Isle of Lewis Faces from the Lewis War Memorial A listing of the casualties from Lewis from WW1. Lewismen lost in the Great War A listing of the casualties from Lewis from WW1, including all available information (e.g. images of war graves, transcript of Stornoway Gazette tributes etc). Roll of Honour, Isle of Lewis 1914-1919 A transcript of Loyal Lewis, Roll of Honour, listing all from the island who served during WW1 Tributes for the War Memorial A transcript of tributes from the Stornoway Gazette to WW1 casualties from Lewis Tributes for the War Memorial (WW2) A transcript of tributes from the Stornoway Gazette to WW2 casualties from Lewis...

Completed the WW2 listings from the Southern Isles . Barra & Vatersay: 55 (51 served in the Merchant Navy). Benbecula: 6 Berneray: 4 Eriskay: 5 Grimsay: 3 Harris: 62 North Uist: 30 South Uist: 41 Total: 211 (there is a degree of cross-over between the islands) 1939: 4 1940: 44 1941: 36 1942: 25 1943: 19 1944: 20 1945: 11 and 4 died in 1946 and 1947 There are 48 casualties on whom I have very little information. Of the 211 casualties: 121 were in the Merchant Navy 55 were in the Army, of whom 28 in the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders 13 in the RAF 19 in the Royal Navy or Royal Naval Reserves 4 were women

A new site is currently being compiled on the Fallen from World War I and World War II from the islands of Berneray, Boreray, North Uist, Grimsay, Benbecula, South Uist, Eriskay, Barra and Vatersay. All information welcome.

On 12 March 1941, the SS Politician was making her way from the United Kingdom to America, but was hopelessly lost in fog around the Hebrides. Although the captain thought he was near Skerryvore, he was in fact a good few miles further west, and heading into the narrow channel between the isles of South Uist and Eriskay. With a grinding crunch, the boat ran aground on a reef, just off Eriskay. The Politician's crew decided she was not going to come off in a hurry, either refloated or sinking, so they rowed ashore at Eriskay and alerted the authorities. The islanders were alerted in the process and they went over to have a look around the wreck. Its cargo consisted of cases of Jamaican banknotes, several grand pianos, bathroom suites and... many thousands of cases of all kinds of whisky. The story has become legendary, with the islanders helping themselves to unimaginable quantities of uisge bheatha [water of life] and having a high old time. Compton Mackenzie immortalised the ...