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HMY Iolaire

Beasts of Holm, Stornoway, Isle of Lewis

Men home from the Great War, drowned yards from their own shore.

In the early hours of New Year's Day 1919, the yacht Iolaire was bringing sailors home to Lewis after the First World War. Just outside Stornoway harbour she hit the rocks known as the Beasts of Holm.

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When
1 January 1919
Where
58.1900, -6.3500
Group
Shipwrecks

Visiting

A memorial stands on the shore at Holm, near Stornoway.

Cover of Blood and Gold by Cale Mills
Read the full story in the book

Blood and Gold

Sixteen true stories of mutiny, mercy, treasure and the gallows from the Golden Age of Piracy: Henry Every, Bartholomew “Black Bart” Roberts, Edward England, Howell Davis, Christopher Moody, Anne Bonny, Mary Read, Charles Vane, Benjamin Hornigold, Blackbeard, Stede Bonnet, Israel Hands, Calico Jack, Edward Low, Captain William Kidd and Samuel “Black Sam” Bellamy. Where the record is uncertain, the book says so.

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