The First Minister has paid tribute to the people who died in the Iolaire disaster.
Alex Salmond laid a wreath at a memorial overlooking the rocks where some 205 men perished when the Admiralty yacht sank in the approaches to Stornoway harbour.
The ship crashed on the Beasts of Holm in a gale in the early hours of New Year’s Day 1919.
Servicemen who survived the bloody battlefields and torpedoed ships of World War One died just yards from home.
Only 79 men made it ashore alive in the horrific accident which occurred immediately after the First World War.
The sinking is the worst peacetime maritime disaster in British waters.
Because of the deep impact of the disaster, many war memorials on Lewis mark the end of the war as 1919 and not the official date of November 1918. Virtually every village on Lewis lost men in the tragedy. Seven belonged to Harris while 31 were crew members from different parts of the UK.
Mr Salmond told Hebrides News it was an “enormous tragedy” for the islands.
He said: “The Iolaire disaster is one of the most poignant tragedies of the First World War.
“The loss of over 200 men, returning from the trenches back to these islands within a few yards of f the shore is a story which obviously had a huge impact on the islands but, I suspect, probably little known generally.”
Mr Salmond added: “The Iolaire story is “now one of the eight key milestone commemorative events in our commemorations of the great war.
“This year, when we mark the centenary of the start of the Great War, we reflect on the sacrifices made by generations of service men and women, including those currently serving.
“The centenary programme will see commemorations of major battles and the observance of significant domestic events, such as the loss of HMY Iolaire.”
He pointed out the First World War impacted on the lives of families across Scotland.
He added: “Nowhere is that more so that in the Outer Hebrides which proportionally lost more men than any other part of Scotland.”
