Decision of Inquiry

THE great disaster [Iolaire Disaster] formed the subject of a special Public Inquiry held in the Stornoway Sheriff Court House on 10th and 11th February [1919]. Sheriff-Principal Mackintosh presided, and the following jury were empannelled : —Messrs Malcolm Maclean, Point Street; A. R. Murray, Cromwell St. ; George Morrison, Cromwell Street ; Malcolm Ross, Francis St. : John Ross, Bayhead ; Kenneth Mackenzie, Keith St.; and Angus Macleod, Keith St.

Mr J. C. Fenton, advocate, and Mr C. G. Mackenzie, Procurator-Fiscal, Stornoway, conducted the case for the Crown. Mr J. C. Pitman, advocate, Edinburgh, and Mr W. A. Rosa, solicitor, Stornoway, appeared for the Admiralty; and Mr J. N. Anderson, solicitor, Stornoway, for some of the survivors and bereaved families.

The hearing of the evidence occupied the Court for two whole days, and at the close the jury, after an absence of over an hour, returned a unanimous verdict finding that the Iolaire went ashore and was wrecked on the rocks inside the "Beasts of Holm" about 1.55 on the morning of 1st January, resulting in the death of 205 men ; that the officer in charge did not exercise sufficient prudence in approaching the harbour, that the boat did not slow down, and that a look-out was not on duty at the time of the accident ; that the number of lifebelts, boats, or rafts was insufficient for the number of people carried, and that no orders were given by the officers with a view to saving life; and, further, that there was a loss of valuable time between the signals of distress and the arrival of life-saving apparatus in the vicinity of the wreck. They recommended

(1) that drastic improvements should be made immediately for conveying the life-saving apparatus in the case of ships in distress ;

(2) that the Lighthouse Commissioners take into consideration the question of putting up a light on the Holm side of the harbour; and

(3) that the Government will in future provide adequate and safe travelling facilities for naval ratings and soldiers. The jury desired to add that they were satisfied no one on board was under the influence of intoxicating liquor, and also that there was no panic on board after the vessel struck.

As a rider to their verdict they recommended to the Carnegie Trust and the Royal Humane Society, Seaman J. F. Macleod for some token of appreciation of his conduct in swimming ashore with a line, by means of which the hawser was brought ashore and many lives were saved.

The Jury also extended their sincerest sympathy to those who had lost relatives in this regrettable disaster, and also expressed their appreciation of the hospitality shown to the survivors by Mr and Mrs Anderson Young, Stoneyfield Farm.