0:00:08 > 0:00:10The seas around Scotland
0:00:10 > 0:00:12are a paradise of islands -
0:00:12 > 0:00:14700 at least.
0:00:14 > 0:00:18Some rise up in majestic splendour,
0:00:18 > 0:00:22others barely break the surface.
0:00:24 > 0:00:26The Scottish Isles are home
0:00:26 > 0:00:30to some of the most close-knit communities in Britain,
0:00:30 > 0:00:32people ringed by the sea.
0:00:32 > 0:00:34It's their provider, their adversary,
0:00:34 > 0:00:36and their inspiration.
0:01:01 > 0:01:05We're sampling the delights of the Scottish Isles.
0:01:07 > 0:01:11My journey will take me across the islands of the Outer Hebrides.
0:01:11 > 0:01:13I'll be heading for Port of Ness,
0:01:13 > 0:01:16but I begin in the south, on Eriskay.
0:01:19 > 0:01:21Arriving somewhere new,
0:01:21 > 0:01:25my first instinct is to make for the centre of town.
0:01:25 > 0:01:28Never mind the centre, where's the town?
0:01:32 > 0:01:35There are just 100 or so islanders,
0:01:35 > 0:01:39but they're spread over six square miles.
0:01:41 > 0:01:44With so much space to do their own thing,
0:01:44 > 0:01:47I'm keen to know what binds Eriskay people together.
0:01:47 > 0:01:54What is it that creates an island's special community?
0:01:54 > 0:01:57The focus of village life is the local shop.
0:02:02 > 0:02:05This is a real Aladdin's cave.
0:02:05 > 0:02:10The islanders run the shop themselves, to suit their needs.
0:02:10 > 0:02:12- Wooden clothes pegs!- Yes.
0:02:12 > 0:02:14I didn't know those were still available.
0:02:14 > 0:02:18This isn't just the only shop on Eriskay, it's the Post Office too.
0:02:20 > 0:02:21- Hello.- Hello.- Are you Patrick?
0:02:21 > 0:02:26- I am Patrick, yes.- How do you do? I'm Nick. Can I come round the back?- You can indeed, yes.
0:02:29 > 0:02:30- Hello there.- Hello.
0:02:30 > 0:02:32I couldn't help noticing, Patrick -
0:02:32 > 0:02:34are these all your customers on the island,
0:02:34 > 0:02:35the people you deliver letters to?
0:02:35 > 0:02:37That's all the customers on the island, yes.
0:02:37 > 0:02:41- You've got them labelled by all their Christian names. - Labelled by name, yes, yes.
0:02:41 > 0:02:47- Most of the other Post Offices, they go by the numbers.- Yeah. - But I just go name and that's it.
0:02:47 > 0:02:50You must know the island better than anybody. Would you take me for a spin?
0:02:50 > 0:02:52I will indeed, yes.
0:02:53 > 0:02:57How many jokes do you have to put up with about Postman Pat, given your name is Patrick?
0:02:57 > 0:03:00Quite a few actually, quite a few.
0:03:00 > 0:03:03What were you doing before you were Eriskay's postie?
0:03:03 > 0:03:06Well, I was 15 and a half when I left home and went to sea,
0:03:06 > 0:03:07into the Merchant Navy.
0:03:07 > 0:03:10I did that for 20 years,
0:03:10 > 0:03:14but every time I was coming home, it was getting harder to go away.
0:03:14 > 0:03:17So I became the postman, and 20 years later I'm still here.
0:03:17 > 0:03:23There's something about the islands out here that really draw you back.
0:03:23 > 0:03:27Strong ties bind people to this place,
0:03:27 > 0:03:30and the islanders aren't the only ones drawn back here.
0:03:30 > 0:03:35There's another group of regular returners...offshore.
0:03:35 > 0:03:38- Permission to board. I'm Nick. - Hi. I'm Ben.
0:03:38 > 0:03:41'My guide's Ben Wilson.
0:03:41 > 0:03:43'For over ten years,
0:03:43 > 0:03:46'Ben's been following a family of bottlenose dolphins,
0:03:46 > 0:03:48'who've shown up every summer.
0:03:51 > 0:03:56'I'm hoping they haven't changed their plans this year.'
0:04:00 > 0:04:05Right here! Right in front of us here, right under the boat.
0:04:05 > 0:04:08There's a small community of animals. There's about 12 individuals.
0:04:08 > 0:04:11Ben and his colleagues want to know what it is
0:04:11 > 0:04:13that brings the dolphins back here.
0:04:13 > 0:04:15In the summer,
0:04:15 > 0:04:19we tend to find them within about 10km of this spot.
0:04:19 > 0:04:23There's definitely a food supply that's keeping them here.
0:04:23 > 0:04:25Where they go in the winter? Don't really know.
0:04:25 > 0:04:28So I guess that's the jigsaw we've got to build up.
0:04:28 > 0:04:33Shared experience and fun keep communities together,
0:04:33 > 0:04:34at sea and on land.
0:04:39 > 0:04:43I've been invited to the social event of the year.
0:04:43 > 0:04:48The golden wedding anniversary of Roddy and Peggy MacInnes,
0:04:48 > 0:04:50islanders born and bred,
0:04:50 > 0:04:51who're having a ceilidh.
0:04:53 > 0:04:57It looks like everyone on Eriskay has turned out tonight.
0:05:01 > 0:05:03There's a first for everything.
0:05:03 > 0:05:07For me, that's Scottish dancing.
0:05:11 > 0:05:14I've never needed a map so badly!
0:05:32 > 0:05:35We're on a tour of the Scottish islands,
0:05:35 > 0:05:40some 700 individual worlds,
0:05:40 > 0:05:46separated and united by the great seaway between them.
0:05:46 > 0:05:47For hundreds of years,
0:05:47 > 0:05:51sailors and navigators have charted courses over the water.
0:05:51 > 0:05:52But until recently,
0:05:52 > 0:05:55what lay beneath in the deep ocean
0:05:55 > 0:05:57was a complete mystery.
0:05:57 > 0:06:01The quest to discover the secret life of the sea
0:06:01 > 0:06:04began in the waters off Scotland.
0:06:04 > 0:06:09Historian Tessa Dunlop is in Oban on the west coast.
0:06:09 > 0:06:14She's on the trail of a great 19th century adventure.
0:06:16 > 0:06:19This state-of-the-art research vessel
0:06:19 > 0:06:23owes its existence to a voyage undertaken in the 19th century
0:06:23 > 0:06:25by HMS Challenger.
0:06:25 > 0:06:27Challenger was at sea for nearly four years.
0:06:27 > 0:06:30It was an epic voyage around the globe
0:06:30 > 0:06:33to make the first ever survey of the world's oceans.
0:06:35 > 0:06:38The voyage of HMS Challenger
0:06:38 > 0:06:41revolutionised our view of what lives in the deep sea.
0:06:41 > 0:06:44It was one of the greatest adventures in science,
0:06:44 > 0:06:48and it began off the coast of Scotland.
0:06:48 > 0:06:52'It took 50 volumes to report the findings of Challenger's global odyssey.
0:06:52 > 0:06:56'Professor Laurence Mee knows the secrets of these books
0:06:56 > 0:06:59'and their rare creatures.'
0:06:59 > 0:07:02It's one of the original specimens from the Challenger expedition.
0:07:02 > 0:07:06Obviously it's a starfish. It comes from the deep sea off Nova Scotia,
0:07:06 > 0:07:09so these animals live at depths below 1000 metres.
0:07:09 > 0:07:12Before that, people assumed there was nothing down there.
0:07:12 > 0:07:14This was a colossal scientific endeavour.
0:07:15 > 0:07:18The brains behind the Challenger expedition
0:07:18 > 0:07:22was a brilliant Scottish scientist, Charles Wyville Thomson.
0:07:22 > 0:07:24- Hi, Laila.- Hi. Good morning.
0:07:24 > 0:07:28'People used to think the deep ocean was a barren, dead zone.
0:07:28 > 0:07:30'Wyville Thomson thought otherwise.
0:07:30 > 0:07:34'He set out to find proof of life below.
0:07:34 > 0:07:39'In 1868, Thomson began his search in Scottish seas.'
0:07:39 > 0:07:43Wyville Thomson was actually based at the University of Edinburgh, up here in Scotland.
0:07:43 > 0:07:46He persuaded the Admiralty to lend him a small ship,
0:07:46 > 0:07:51which set off and studied the region between the Faroes and the Scottish coast.
0:07:51 > 0:07:53They found sponges,
0:07:53 > 0:07:55they found cold water corals on reefs just beyond us,
0:07:55 > 0:07:58and organisms with multiple legs
0:07:58 > 0:08:02that people did not believe could live in those dark, deep, high-pressure depths.
0:08:04 > 0:08:08If such wonders were to be found in home waters,
0:08:08 > 0:08:11what would be discovered elsewhere?
0:08:12 > 0:08:14Buoyed with success,
0:08:14 > 0:08:17Wyville Thomson persuaded the British government
0:08:17 > 0:08:19to fund the Challenger expedition,
0:08:19 > 0:08:23the most ambitious scientific endeavour of the age.
0:08:25 > 0:08:30In 1872, they set sail on an epic voyage around the globe.
0:08:30 > 0:08:33They journeyed for three and a half long years.
0:08:33 > 0:08:37Challenger crossed all the great oceans.
0:08:37 > 0:08:40They travelled as far as the Antarctic,
0:08:40 > 0:08:44zig-zagging their way across the Atlantic,
0:08:44 > 0:08:47before finally returning home.
0:08:47 > 0:08:48Everywhere they went,
0:08:48 > 0:08:51they took samples and looked for new creatures.
0:08:53 > 0:08:56The Challenger was also the first official expedition
0:08:56 > 0:08:59to have a photographer.
0:08:59 > 0:09:03They captured images of new cultures around the world, all on photographic plates.
0:09:03 > 0:09:06The people, costumes, traditions,
0:09:06 > 0:09:08were recorded for the first time photographically.
0:09:08 > 0:09:13They took the first ever photo of an Antarctic iceberg.
0:09:13 > 0:09:16This is a rare image of a warrior from the Philippines.
0:09:19 > 0:09:21The Challenger revealed a world never seen before,
0:09:21 > 0:09:25above and below the waves.
0:09:27 > 0:09:28This is a dredge.
0:09:28 > 0:09:30It's very similar to the one used on the Challenger
0:09:30 > 0:09:34and it's used for collecting animals that live on the sea bed.
0:09:34 > 0:09:37We can use similar dredges even in the very deep ocean,
0:09:37 > 0:09:39thousands of metres deep.
0:09:39 > 0:09:43- That is chock-full, isn't it?- It is.
0:09:43 > 0:09:47It's mainly mud, stones, old shells, but there will be some animals.
0:09:47 > 0:09:51- What is that? It's got purple legs. - That looks like a hermit crab.
0:09:51 > 0:09:56Yes, little spider crab here.
0:09:57 > 0:10:01It's always exciting. You never know what you're going to find.
0:10:01 > 0:10:03And, of course, if you're doing this in deep water,
0:10:03 > 0:10:08- you can find species that no-one's ever seen.- Which is what they were doing on the Challenger.
0:10:08 > 0:10:12They were sampling down to over 5,000 metres depth,
0:10:12 > 0:10:15so they were catching things that no-one had ever seen in human history.
0:10:15 > 0:10:18And now, today, how many species do we know of?
0:10:18 > 0:10:23There may be somewhere in the region of 1.5 million species in the oceans,
0:10:23 > 0:10:25most of which we haven't even discovered yet.
0:10:28 > 0:10:33Once, scientists believed the deep sea was lifeless.
0:10:33 > 0:10:36Now, thanks to Wyville Thomson,
0:10:36 > 0:10:40we know the depths are teeming with weird and wonderful creatures.
0:10:40 > 0:10:46140 years after the science of oceanography started in Scottish waters,
0:10:46 > 0:10:49we've still only discovered a small fraction
0:10:49 > 0:10:53of the secret life of the sea.
0:11:20 > 0:11:26The locals have learned to make the most of their island companions,
0:11:26 > 0:11:29whether they're fish, fowl, or any other creatures.
0:11:33 > 0:11:37In the far north, there's a small animal business on Shetland
0:11:37 > 0:11:40that's enjoyed big success.
0:11:40 > 0:11:44Miranda is sizing up the stock.
0:11:44 > 0:11:49For over 4,000 years, these little ponies have roamed around Shetland,
0:11:49 > 0:11:52and you'll find them throughout the islands, grazing by the roadside,
0:11:52 > 0:11:55over on the hills, and even down on the beach.
0:11:55 > 0:11:57Come on, then.
0:11:57 > 0:12:00You come across them everywhere,
0:12:00 > 0:12:04and they cope with all weathers, which is just as well.
0:12:04 > 0:12:07THUNDER
0:12:10 > 0:12:11That's a doorbell!
0:12:15 > 0:12:18- Hello.- Hi. Lovely to meet you. I'm Miranda.- That's fine.
0:12:18 > 0:12:21Hi. Are you going to go out in the weather? It's rainy out there.
0:12:21 > 0:12:23Aye, I'll get my hat. Just hold on a minute.
0:12:23 > 0:12:28Jim's family have been breeding Shetland ponies here longer than anyone else on the islands.
0:12:28 > 0:12:31- How's that? - Great! All dressed for it.
0:12:32 > 0:12:35'Shetland ponies are renowned for their strength,
0:12:35 > 0:12:38'and of course, their size.'
0:12:38 > 0:12:44This is a standard pony, which can be up to 42 inches at the shoulder.
0:12:44 > 0:12:47- And that's a really short one! - These are miniatures,
0:12:47 > 0:12:51and they can be up to 34 inches at the shoulder.
0:12:51 > 0:12:54So, a show Shetland pony - what are you looking for?
0:12:54 > 0:12:56You want a nice head,
0:12:56 > 0:13:01and I like them slightly dished, which is concave here.
0:13:01 > 0:13:04They have to have big brown eyes, intelligent and kind.
0:13:04 > 0:13:09The forelock should have a lot of hair on it.
0:13:09 > 0:13:12- A shaggy look.- That's right. - Typical Shetland look.- That's right.
0:13:12 > 0:13:16And they're renowned for being a very tough breed. How tough are they?
0:13:16 > 0:13:19Well, as far as strength goes,
0:13:19 > 0:13:22they're the strongest horse for their size in the world.
0:13:22 > 0:13:27And they don't need to be stabled in the winter time,
0:13:27 > 0:13:28they're always outside.
0:13:28 > 0:13:32- Even up here, when it's really cold? - Even up here. This is where they live.
0:13:32 > 0:13:34This is the place for them, out on the hills.
0:13:34 > 0:13:36They're tough characters.
0:13:36 > 0:13:40- A bit like the islanders here, I would imagine.- Oh, no, no.
0:13:40 > 0:13:42We're not tough, we're very gentle.
0:13:49 > 0:13:54Today, Shetland ponies are sold worldwide as pets and show horses,
0:13:54 > 0:13:58but just look at this photograph, going back over 150 years.
0:13:58 > 0:14:02The ponies from that island were destined for a life in heavy industry.
0:14:02 > 0:14:05They were to swap the fresh air of Shetland
0:14:05 > 0:14:10for the coal dust and claustrophobia of a life underground as a pit pony.
0:14:13 > 0:14:17'I'm with John Scott, and we're going to the Isle of Noss.
0:14:17 > 0:14:21'It was the site of a breeding programme to produce a super-pony,
0:14:21 > 0:14:24'fit for hauling loads of coal.
0:14:26 > 0:14:29'The finest mares and stallions
0:14:29 > 0:14:32'were kept on the island in splendid isolation.
0:14:32 > 0:14:35'This building was used to breed the best of the bunch.'
0:14:35 > 0:14:40They finally bred this stallion, who they named Jack of Noss,
0:14:40 > 0:14:43who was the kind of ultimate of what they had been breeding for.
0:14:43 > 0:14:47He was, I think the kind of Brad Pitt of the pony world, you know.
0:14:47 > 0:14:48Brad Pitt pit pony! Great.
0:14:48 > 0:14:54And so he became...the foundation of the whole stud-book,
0:14:54 > 0:14:58and so every Shetland pony in the stud-book
0:14:58 > 0:15:00has got blood from Jack of Noss.
0:15:00 > 0:15:02- From right from here? - Right from here.
0:15:04 > 0:15:08It wasn't looks the breeders were after, but size and strength.
0:15:08 > 0:15:10And they succeeded.
0:15:10 > 0:15:15The Shetland pony could haul tubs of coal weighing up to a tonne.
0:15:15 > 0:15:18Those dark days are over.
0:15:18 > 0:15:20Jack of Noss has long gone,
0:15:20 > 0:15:25but his hardy characteristics live on in the DNA of these Shetland ponies.
0:15:25 > 0:15:29That's why they'll comfortably bear the weight of an adult.
0:15:29 > 0:15:31So I couldn't resist a ride.
0:15:43 > 0:15:45SHE LAUGHS
0:15:47 > 0:15:51Whoa, whoa, whoa.
0:15:57 > 0:15:59Many of the Scottish Isles
0:15:59 > 0:16:05have managed to export their products far out across the seas.
0:16:05 > 0:16:09The Outer Hebrides can boast their own global brand.
0:16:10 > 0:16:14That's what brought me to Tarbert, on Harris.
0:16:17 > 0:16:19This is what I'm after.
0:16:21 > 0:16:23Harris Tweed.
0:16:23 > 0:16:26- Hello there.- Hi there. - May I look at your jackets?
0:16:26 > 0:16:28Yes, of course. Just got some over here.
0:16:28 > 0:16:31- Look at those. They're very evocative.- Yeah, they are.
0:16:31 > 0:16:35They're the colours of Scotland, with the grey rock, the heather...
0:16:35 > 0:16:40And then this one seems to have little traces of blue in it, and awesome colours.
0:16:40 > 0:16:42It's got lots of colours in it. Would you like to try one?
0:16:42 > 0:16:46- Yeah, why not?- We can try this one.
0:16:46 > 0:16:49This will be a sartorial leap for me,
0:16:49 > 0:16:53to get rid of the old anorak and present Coast in a genuine Harris...
0:16:53 > 0:16:57- Oh, it's very comfortable. - How's that for you?- It's lovely.
0:16:57 > 0:17:00Oh, yes. Now, that really is an improvement, don't you think?
0:17:00 > 0:17:02- Yes.- Coast and beyond!
0:17:05 > 0:17:09There's a reason why the colours of Harris Tweed mirror the landscape.
0:17:09 > 0:17:14Originally, the dyes were produced by local plants and lichens.
0:17:14 > 0:17:17'Textile designer Alice Starmore
0:17:17 > 0:17:19is going to show me how it was done.'
0:17:19 > 0:17:21- Very good to meet you.- You too.
0:17:21 > 0:17:25- Looks like you've got things started already.- Yes. I have lit the peat fire.
0:17:25 > 0:17:28I have the water, which obviously you need for dyeing as well.
0:17:28 > 0:17:32I have the fleece, and the only thing I need now is the crottal lichen,
0:17:32 > 0:17:35which is going to actually give me the colour.
0:17:35 > 0:17:37What are we looking out for?
0:17:37 > 0:17:39Well, we're looking out for a very unassuming,
0:17:39 > 0:17:43and drab, grey, crusty stuff,
0:17:43 > 0:17:45which actually is black crottal.
0:17:45 > 0:17:48And here is a very nice crop of it.
0:17:48 > 0:17:49Oh, is this it here?
0:17:49 > 0:17:52- This is it.- It looks like a spillage of very old porridge.
0:17:52 > 0:17:57It does, but the dye comes out of it very easily.
0:17:57 > 0:18:00It's a beautiful rich bronze-brown shade that you get from it,
0:18:00 > 0:18:04and you can see that it's actually ready to come right off the rock here.
0:18:04 > 0:18:07The Harris people would say that was ripe and ready.
0:18:07 > 0:18:12'Some lichens are protected, but this one's safe to pick.
0:18:12 > 0:18:16'Even so, we're just taking enough to dye one small fleece.'
0:18:16 > 0:18:19- Now for the exciting part. - Time to get the pot.
0:18:19 > 0:18:25'First, take one scoured fleece and moisten with peat-rich spring water.'
0:18:25 > 0:18:28We're not just bunging it in, we're going to layer it a bit.
0:18:28 > 0:18:31It's important that the dye should be as even as possible.
0:18:31 > 0:18:34- It's a bit like making lasagne! - It is a bit, yes!
0:18:34 > 0:18:37And it is - the whole thing is a little bit like cooking.
0:18:37 > 0:18:39Pour in the water.
0:18:39 > 0:18:41Yes.
0:18:41 > 0:18:45And as it slowly comes to the boil, rather like a stew,
0:18:45 > 0:18:50all the products will come out and dye the fleece.
0:18:50 > 0:18:54'While we wait for the chemistry to cook,
0:18:54 > 0:18:56'Alice has some samples to show me.
0:18:56 > 0:19:00All colours produced from local lichens and plants.' Look at that.
0:19:00 > 0:19:03It's like silverweed and ragweed.
0:19:03 > 0:19:05Here are the crottal colours,
0:19:05 > 0:19:11and here is the rich dark colour that you would get from cooking it overnight, as it where.
0:19:11 > 0:19:15OK, it's been cooking for some time now, Alice.
0:19:15 > 0:19:18- It's a rich, deep colour, isn't it? - It's beginning to get orange.
0:19:18 > 0:19:20Look at that.
0:19:20 > 0:19:25That's it in the early stages, so you can see what a slow and painstaking process it was.
0:19:28 > 0:19:32The rules governing the Harris Tweed trademark are strict.
0:19:32 > 0:19:37The cloth must be woven by the people of the Outer Hebrides
0:19:37 > 0:19:38in their own homes.
0:19:38 > 0:19:41MECHANICAL WHIRRING
0:19:41 > 0:19:43I can hear clattering machinery.
0:19:46 > 0:19:50'Donald John Mackay has been busy with the fabric for over 40 years.'
0:19:50 > 0:19:52My goodness!
0:19:52 > 0:19:54So, Donald, how is the loom powered?
0:19:54 > 0:19:59- By my feet.- Oh, I see, so handmade really means...
0:19:59 > 0:20:04- Means foot power, yes.- So you cannot have an electric...- No! No, no, no.
0:20:04 > 0:20:06What's this roll going to be used for?
0:20:06 > 0:20:10This is going to Nike for shoes and bags.
0:20:10 > 0:20:13- Really?- Yes.- To Nike?- Yes.
0:20:13 > 0:20:16- The big sports manufacturer? - Yes, the big... Yes, yes, yes.
0:20:16 > 0:20:19That's incredible. And what about the threads themselves?
0:20:19 > 0:20:22See, each thread is made up of many, many colours.
0:20:22 > 0:20:27- Isn't that extraordinary? When you look closely, it's a whole rainbow of colours.- Comes alive.
0:20:27 > 0:20:29Comes alive, exactly! It really comes alive.
0:20:29 > 0:20:31Well, that's Harris Tweed for you.
0:20:37 > 0:20:42Harris is separated from Lewis in name only.
0:20:42 > 0:20:45They're parts of the same island,
0:20:45 > 0:20:47separated not by water,
0:20:47 > 0:20:50but by a range of mountains.
0:20:50 > 0:20:53Across those peaks, on the east coast,
0:20:53 > 0:20:56lies the capital of Lewis, Stornoway.
0:21:00 > 0:21:06A disaster at sea nearly a century ago shocked this community so much,
0:21:06 > 0:21:10the pain is still raw today.
0:21:10 > 0:21:15It's a tragic tale, not often told to outsiders,
0:21:15 > 0:21:17that Neil knows well.
0:21:21 > 0:21:22In the First World War,
0:21:22 > 0:21:28half the male population of Lewis served in the armed forces.
0:21:28 > 0:21:30Many never returned,
0:21:30 > 0:21:34but some perished cruelly close to home.
0:21:34 > 0:21:39More than 200 servicemen died in a disaster off the Scottish coast,
0:21:39 > 0:21:43just days after the Great War ended.
0:21:48 > 0:21:52It's late on New Year's Eve 1918,
0:21:52 > 0:21:56a cold, dark, end to a terrible year.
0:21:56 > 0:21:59But the men on board the Iolaire are in high spirits
0:21:59 > 0:22:01because they're going home.
0:22:01 > 0:22:02The war is over.
0:22:02 > 0:22:08These are just a few of the 280-odd souls who were packed aboard,
0:22:08 > 0:22:10mostly sailors of the Royal Naval Reserve.
0:22:10 > 0:22:13Men from the islands, the Outer Hebrides,
0:22:13 > 0:22:16who'd survived the horrors of the First World War.
0:22:20 > 0:22:23They were on a large civilian yacht, pressed into war service
0:22:23 > 0:22:27and renamed Her Majesty's Yacht Iolaire.
0:22:27 > 0:22:31By 1.50 in the morning, the boat was almost home.
0:22:31 > 0:22:35The servicemen aboard could see the harbour lights of Stornoway.
0:22:35 > 0:22:39They knew their loved ones would be lining the quayside at Stornoway,
0:22:39 > 0:22:41just half a mile away.
0:22:41 > 0:22:44But most of the men crammed aboard the Iolaire that night
0:22:44 > 0:22:48would never see their families again.
0:22:48 > 0:22:52Minutes later, in stormy seas,
0:22:52 > 0:22:55the Iolaire struck a notorious reef - the Beasts Of Holm.
0:22:58 > 0:23:01They were only 30 yards from land,
0:23:01 > 0:23:07but of the 285 men on board, just 80 survived.
0:23:09 > 0:23:11More than half of those that did survive
0:23:11 > 0:23:14owed their lives to one man aboard the stricken ship,
0:23:14 > 0:23:17John Finlay MacLeod, a Lewis man,
0:23:17 > 0:23:18a boat builder, in fact.
0:23:18 > 0:23:20Somehow, amid the chaos,
0:23:20 > 0:23:23he managed to half-scramble, half-swim ashore
0:23:23 > 0:23:25with a line tied around his wrist.
0:23:28 > 0:23:33This monument stands on the spot where John Finlay swam ashore.
0:23:33 > 0:23:37Interviewed in 1973, he recalled that night.
0:24:04 > 0:24:0940 survivors owed their lives to the courage of John Finlay MacLeod,
0:24:09 > 0:24:14but 205 men died on that last night of 1918.
0:24:14 > 0:24:17When dawn finally broke that New Year's Day,
0:24:17 > 0:24:21the people of Lewis were greeted to a dreadful sight.
0:24:21 > 0:24:25There's a photograph showing the wreck of the Iolaire,
0:24:25 > 0:24:30the bulk of her still submerged, and just the mast sticking out.
0:24:33 > 0:24:36As news of the Iolaire disaster spread,
0:24:36 > 0:24:41people walked the coastline, looking for relatives.
0:24:41 > 0:24:45At Sandwick Bay, they found only dozens of bodies.
0:24:46 > 0:24:50Servicemen returning from the Great War.
0:24:50 > 0:24:55These Scots didn't die on the foreign field, but in home water,
0:24:55 > 0:24:58within sight of safety.
0:24:58 > 0:25:01Relatives and friends, looking for loved ones,
0:25:01 > 0:25:04picked their way through the wreckage of the Iolaire
0:25:04 > 0:25:07and what they found were toys,
0:25:07 > 0:25:11presents that fathers never got the chance to give to children.
0:25:15 > 0:25:17In a remote part of Lewis,
0:25:17 > 0:25:20four-year-old Marion Smith was waiting for her father.
0:25:20 > 0:25:24- Oh, hello. Come in.- Hello, Marion.
0:25:24 > 0:25:28'Kenneth Smith survived the Great War, but only his suitcase made it back home.'
0:25:28 > 0:25:32In his possessions that they found on the beach,
0:25:32 > 0:25:34- they found this box that we have here.- Mm-hm.
0:25:34 > 0:25:40Inside it are ration cards,
0:25:40 > 0:25:43with which they were issued.
0:25:43 > 0:25:46- So that's your dad, Kenneth Smith. - Yes.
0:25:46 > 0:25:51And he should have been on leave from the 30th December 1918
0:25:51 > 0:25:54until the 14th January 1919.
0:25:54 > 0:25:57That made it home and he didn't.
0:25:58 > 0:26:01What do you remember about your mum
0:26:01 > 0:26:04on the night when the news arrived at the house?
0:26:04 > 0:26:09She was sitting down, and the neighbours were coming in,
0:26:09 > 0:26:12and also people whom I didn't know were coming in.
0:26:12 > 0:26:16And they all hugged her and they all cried,
0:26:16 > 0:26:19and my grandfather just sat,
0:26:19 > 0:26:25and I would go over and lean across his knees.
0:26:25 > 0:26:29And I remember the tears dropping off his cheeks
0:26:29 > 0:26:32onto the top of my head.
0:26:32 > 0:26:36I couldn't understand what had happened.
0:26:36 > 0:26:39The clock stopped
0:26:39 > 0:26:42and the world changed.
0:26:46 > 0:26:49The people of Lewis were grieving their loss,
0:26:49 > 0:26:52but alongside grief came anger.
0:26:52 > 0:26:57Why had the Iolaire foundered on the Beasts Of Holm?
0:26:57 > 0:27:00Why had so many died within yards of the shore?
0:27:01 > 0:27:06'John Macleod has examined the events of that tragic night.'
0:27:06 > 0:27:09The boat was very under-crewed.
0:27:09 > 0:27:11The officer had never sailed at night.
0:27:11 > 0:27:12It was quite stormy.
0:27:12 > 0:27:15They weren't familiar with the waters, and they lost their way.
0:27:15 > 0:27:19The Iolaire didn't have enough lifeboats for all the men. There weren't enough life jackets.
0:27:19 > 0:27:21It was a disaster waiting to happen.
0:27:21 > 0:27:23You would think that they were so close
0:27:23 > 0:27:26that it ought to have been possible to escape the tragedy.
0:27:26 > 0:27:29You've these huge breakers hammering in,
0:27:29 > 0:27:32so the men who'd jumped into the water were mostly beaten to death.
0:27:32 > 0:27:36They wasn't drowned, they were smashed against the rocks time and time again,
0:27:36 > 0:27:38like being caught in the most nightmarish washing machine.
0:27:40 > 0:27:44The appalling deaths in the Iolaire disaster
0:27:44 > 0:27:47happened just after the Great War ended,
0:27:47 > 0:27:51a war that had already killed 866 men of Lewis.
0:27:51 > 0:27:53A terrible sacrifice.
0:27:54 > 0:27:57Of those who'd volunteered, one in six were dead.
0:27:57 > 0:28:01But the needless loss of all those men aboard the Iolaire
0:28:01 > 0:28:02was the cruellest blow,
0:28:02 > 0:28:07and yet for many years, the response from Lewis was silence.
0:28:07 > 0:28:10Because what could anyone say that mattered?
0:28:10 > 0:28:12And that's why, beyond the islands,
0:28:12 > 0:28:15the name Iolaire is essentially unknown,
0:28:15 > 0:28:18because this was a very private tragedy.
0:28:18 > 0:28:23Amongst the list of names here, Seaman Kenneth Smith.
0:28:23 > 0:28:26For his widow, Christina,
0:28:26 > 0:28:28his death and her grief
0:28:28 > 0:28:30were not something to be shared.
0:28:30 > 0:28:36Did she ever talk to you about your dad and about what happened?
0:28:36 > 0:28:39No, she didn't.
0:28:39 > 0:28:44She never talked about the tragedy at all.
0:28:46 > 0:28:50I remember that she only wore black.
0:28:50 > 0:28:53Black, black.
0:28:53 > 0:28:57If she was baking, she still wore black.
0:28:57 > 0:29:02And to this day...I remember.
0:29:02 > 0:29:06I just didn't like the colour, and I still don't.
0:29:06 > 0:29:10To have come so close to coming home,
0:29:10 > 0:29:14you know, to drown, to die on the doorstep of home.
0:29:14 > 0:29:16Yes, well, as the song said,
0:29:16 > 0:29:18these brave men
0:29:18 > 0:29:19who'd gone so far
0:29:19 > 0:29:22through the dangers of the war,
0:29:22 > 0:29:24by the irony of fate
0:29:24 > 0:29:27were drowned at home.
0:29:40 > 0:29:46Many would envy the sense of community on the Scottish Isles.
0:29:46 > 0:29:48Language and traditions
0:29:48 > 0:29:51bind people together,
0:29:51 > 0:29:54but some of those traditional customs
0:29:54 > 0:29:57may seem at odds with life elsewhere in our islands.
0:30:00 > 0:30:06I've reached my final stop at the tip of the Hebrides, Port of Ness.
0:30:10 > 0:30:12It looks like the end of the line,
0:30:12 > 0:30:16but this little harbour is actually the point of departure
0:30:16 > 0:30:18for a group of men who set sail every August.
0:30:18 > 0:30:22It's a voyage the men of Ness have been undertaking for centuries,
0:30:22 > 0:30:25sons following fathers who followed their fathers.
0:30:25 > 0:30:27They've all been heading for the same spot,
0:30:27 > 0:30:32a lonely rocky island, 40 miles from here, called Sula Sgeir.
0:30:34 > 0:30:36Nobody lives there,
0:30:36 > 0:30:38but it's home to thousands of gannets.
0:30:41 > 0:30:45The men of Ness come to Sula Sgeir to hunt for birds.
0:30:47 > 0:30:52It was a tradition captured on film in the 1950s. Take a look at this.
0:30:55 > 0:31:00They're after the young gannets, known in these parts as guga.
0:31:00 > 0:31:03The guga-hunting season is August,
0:31:03 > 0:31:06when the chicks are almost fully grown.
0:31:06 > 0:31:10There's no shortage of people to buy them.
0:31:10 > 0:31:14Guga is an age-old delicacy in these parts.
0:31:15 > 0:31:2050 years on, the small boy in the film is doing as his father did.
0:31:22 > 0:31:25John MacFarlane is now the leader of the annual guga hunt,
0:31:25 > 0:31:31a time-honoured custom first recorded in 1549.
0:31:31 > 0:31:34It's a big thing in Ness, our community,
0:31:34 > 0:31:37in this part of the island, up the Butt of Lewis end.
0:31:37 > 0:31:39If you mention the community of Ness to someone,
0:31:39 > 0:31:42it's always associated with the guga, with the guga hunt.
0:31:42 > 0:31:45The Ness gannet.
0:31:45 > 0:31:48It's... It's a Ness thing.
0:31:48 > 0:31:53Once, the men of Ness could take as many guga as they could carry.
0:31:53 > 0:31:56But now, they operate under a licence
0:31:56 > 0:32:00to take no more than 2,000 birds a year.
0:32:00 > 0:32:04The Scottish Government licenses the hunt,
0:32:04 > 0:32:06which it's argued is culturally important.
0:32:08 > 0:32:13The ritual hasn't changed in living memory.
0:32:13 > 0:32:16We lift them out of the nest with a 10ft pole,
0:32:16 > 0:32:19with a clamp at the end, around its neck.
0:32:19 > 0:32:23I pass it on to the next person behind me,
0:32:23 > 0:32:25who gives it a whack on the head.
0:32:25 > 0:32:28From the time I pick it out of the nest, to the time it's dead
0:32:28 > 0:32:30is about three seconds.
0:32:30 > 0:32:32We start plucking them,
0:32:32 > 0:32:35taking the feathers off.
0:32:35 > 0:32:37The next part is what we call the factory.
0:32:37 > 0:32:41Two of the boys actually take the down off the birds
0:32:41 > 0:32:44by dipping them into the fire.
0:32:44 > 0:32:48And they're passed onto the next two guys, who actually split them open,
0:32:48 > 0:32:53to leave four quarters of ripe prime guga.
0:32:53 > 0:32:58We then salt them and make a brown pile of them.
0:32:58 > 0:33:02There's a special way of doing it, so that the meat doesn't go off.
0:33:04 > 0:33:07We build a chute to the bottom of the island.
0:33:07 > 0:33:11When we're going home, the gugas go down on the chute.
0:33:11 > 0:33:13What do you say to people
0:33:13 > 0:33:18who find the idea of killing wild sea birds...
0:33:18 > 0:33:20distasteful, abhorrent?
0:33:20 > 0:33:23I don't see any difference between that
0:33:23 > 0:33:27and going into a supermarket and buying a chicken or a turkey.
0:33:27 > 0:33:30Those who oppose us going to the island,
0:33:30 > 0:33:35if you could put a guga and a chicken together,
0:33:35 > 0:33:39how could you explain to the chicken why it should be killed
0:33:39 > 0:33:43and the wild guga go free?
0:33:43 > 0:33:45There's no difference.
0:33:45 > 0:33:48It's for human consumption.
0:33:50 > 0:33:53Guga and guga hunting may not be to everyone's taste,
0:33:53 > 0:33:56but the annual journey to Sula Sgeir
0:33:56 > 0:33:58is a centuries-old tradition,
0:33:58 > 0:34:03one fiercely defended by the men of Ness and their community.
0:34:06 > 0:34:12The Outer Hebrides are famously wild, rugged and beautiful.
0:34:12 > 0:34:15They share a quality that's far less conspicuous.
0:34:15 > 0:34:20The people I've met have a real sense of community, of belonging.
0:34:20 > 0:34:24A conviction that their island is truly their home.
0:34:24 > 0:34:28And that, maybe, is what it means to be an islander.