{"id":10668,"date":"2024-05-13T15:09:53","date_gmt":"2024-05-13T15:09:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hebridespeople.com\/?post_type=product&p=10668"},"modified":"2026-01-07T21:54:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-07T21:54:09","slug":"when-i-heard-the-bell","status":"publish","type":"product","link":"https:\/\/hebridespeople.com\/gd\/product\/when-i-heard-the-bell\/","title":{"rendered":"When I Heard the Bell"},"content":{"rendered":"

On 31 December 1918, His Majesty’s Yacht\u00a0Iolaire<\/span>\u00a0sailed from Kyle of Lochalsh for Stornoway, bearing home to the Hebrides nearly 300 naval veterans of the Great War.<\/p>\n

She never made it. At two in the morning, the ship ran aground by the mouth of Stornoway harbour, and over 200 men drowned in what remains Britain’s biggest peacetime disaster at sea since the loss of the\u00a0Titanic<\/span>\u00a0– devastating the Isle of Lewis and scarring a generation.<\/p>\n

Acclaimed journalist John MacLeod examines the events of that dreadful night and uncovers a story not only of official incompetence, error and neglect but also of individual heroism, and the resilience and faith of a remarkable people.<\/p>\n

Paperback
\nISBN: 978-1-83983-056-3<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The loss of the Iolaire remains the worst peacetime British disaster at sea since the sinking of the Titanic. Yet, beyond the Western Isles, few have ever heard of what is not only one of the cruelest events in our history but an extraordinary maritime mystery ? a tale not only of bureaucrats in a hurry, unfathomable Naval incompetence and abiding, official contempt for the lives of Highlanders, but of individual heroism, astonishing escapes, heart-rending anecdote and the resilience and faith of a remarkable people.<\/p>","protected":false},"featured_media":4996,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}"},"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[549,467,550],"product_tag":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-10668","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-books","7":"product_cat-history","8":"product_cat-lewis-books","10":"first","11":"instock","12":"shipping-taxable","13":"purchasable","14":"product-type-simple"},"yoast_head":"\nWhen I Heard the Bell - Hebrides People<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/hebridespeople.com\/gd\/product\/when-i-heard-the-bell\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"When I Heard the Bell - Hebrides People\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The loss of the Iolaire remains the worst peacetime British disaster at sea since the sinking of the Titanic. 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