With sea and storms taking its toll on a striking memorial sculpture to the HMY Iolaire tragedy, proposals to install a permanent structure are being explored.
Sheòl an Iolaire, a full-scale representation of HMY Iolaire set out in wooden posts
on the shoreline at South Beach, was beginning to deteriorate due to the action of
the tides which cover it each day.
The sculpture has now been dismantled after standing for six years. The structure was only intended to be on display for a few weeks during the 100th year anniversary remembrance commemorations of the disaster in 2018.
At least 201 men perished of the 280 aboard the ship taking naval men home on leave to Lewis when the Iolaire struck rocks at Holm outside Stornoway harbour in the early hours of New Year’s Day, 1 January 1919.
But the sculpture designers, Malcolm Maclean and Torcuil Crichton MP, are to investigate the possibility of replacing the ship with a permanent installation.
When installed the sculpture was lit up at night with a light on each one of 280 wooden poles driven into the sand in the exact shape of the Iolaire. The posts depict each of the 280 men on board Iolaire when she sank with 79 random poles painted white to depict survivors of the wreck.
Torcuil Crichton said: “When we proposed ‘Sheòl an Iolaire’ to Stornoway Port the idea was that the sculpture would be there for just a month around the centenary of the sinking, it was meant as a memory of a memory.
“But the simple design, a post for each man aboard the ship, lit at night and changing
each day with the tide, became a thought-provoking symbol of what happened. People
took the installation to heart, and it proved itself resilient to the tides and weather.”
“However, after six years the wooden posts are beginning to decay and the lights have failed and for the safety of the harbour the installation has to come down.”
Malcolm Maclean said the feasibility of replacing the sculpture with a permanent installation would be the next step.
He said: “The concept worked far beyond what was originally envisaged. Sheòl an Iolaire is a very powerful artwork and very quickly became established as part of the heritage of the harbour. “
“People visiting the site repeatedly, it has been recognised by the Imperial War Museum as a war memorial and it is on the itinerary of every cruise ship tour of the town.”
Mr Maclean added: “It will be sad to see it come down but we are now exploring if it is possible for the sculpture to be replicated. We know the concept works and we have to find a technical solution and present that for a funding package.”
The dismantling of the sculpture was undertaken by Stornoway Port whose engineers and staff successfully turned the original idea into a working sculpture.
Mr Maclean and Mr Crichton paid tribute to Stornoway Port who grasped the idea and turned it into reality in a short timeframe in 2018.
Mr Maclean said: “The port recognised at once what the sculpture represented and the funded and installed the posts with determination and engineering skill. We would like to particularly thank chief executive Alex MacLeod, engineer John Porteous and Stornoway Trust which provided the post from woods in the Castle grounds.
Alex Macleod, chief executive at Stornoway Port, said: “We were proud to play a part in bringing Sheòl an Iolaire to life and support a tribute to an important part of our community’s history. The installation became a landmark for locals and visitors, and we are proud of the role we played in making it happen.
“Although sculpture has now been removed, we are fully supportive of efforts to create a more permanent installation. We would be happy to work with Malcolm Maclean, Torcuil Crichton, and the wider community to help facilitate a lasting tribute that continues to honour the memory of the Iolaire and its place in Stornoway’s history.”
Proposal to install permanent Iolaire memorial in Stornoway harbour being explored
26 November 2024
