The Third Wave - Radio 4 Short Story
A short story commissioned by BBC Radio 4 to mark the Anniversary of the Iolaire Disaster.
The Iolaire Disaster is deeply moving for me, coming from the Isle of Lewis.
It happened on New Year's Eve, December 31st 1918. Servicemen were returning to the Isle of Lewis after the Great War. The ship went off course and struck the Beast of Holm, at the mouth of Stornoway harbour. 201 men were lost.
Working on the documentary, I got to hear the men speak about their experience in their own voices. I heard testimony from others of how it affected them personally and the island - mothers, daughters, wives, brothers. It still affects the island to this day, the echo of it through the generations.
This was first broadcast in January 2025 as part of the Radio 3 Short Works series. They have broadcast it a number of times since then and so I hope it will still be available to listen to for a while yet.
I wrote about how 'the deeply saddening burden' affects you, when writing about a tragedy like this in : Writing about the Iolaire