Western Isles and Shetland Coast


Western Isles and Shetland

Similar Content

Browse content similar to Western Isles and Shetland. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!

Transcript


LineFromTo

The seas around Scotland

0:00:080:00:10

are a paradise of islands -

0:00:100:00:12

700 at least.

0:00:120:00:14

Some rise up in majestic splendour,

0:00:140:00:18

others barely break the surface.

0:00:180:00:22

The Scottish Isles are home

0:00:240:00:26

to some of the most close-knit communities in Britain,

0:00:260:00:30

people ringed by the sea.

0:00:300:00:32

It's their provider, their adversary,

0:00:320:00:34

and their inspiration.

0:00:340:00:36

We're sampling the delights of the Scottish Isles.

0:01:010:01:05

My journey will take me across the islands of the Outer Hebrides.

0:01:070:01:11

I'll be heading for Port of Ness,

0:01:110:01:13

but I begin in the south, on Eriskay.

0:01:130:01:16

Arriving somewhere new,

0:01:190:01:21

my first instinct is to make for the centre of town.

0:01:210:01:25

Never mind the centre, where's the town?

0:01:250:01:28

There are just 100 or so islanders,

0:01:320:01:35

but they're spread over six square miles.

0:01:350:01:39

With so much space to do their own thing,

0:01:410:01:44

I'm keen to know what binds Eriskay people together.

0:01:440:01:47

What is it that creates an island's special community?

0:01:470:01:54

The focus of village life is the local shop.

0:01:540:01:57

This is a real Aladdin's cave.

0:02:020:02:05

The islanders run the shop themselves, to suit their needs.

0:02:050:02:10

-Wooden clothes pegs!

-Yes.

0:02:100:02:12

I didn't know those were still available.

0:02:120:02:14

This isn't just the only shop on Eriskay, it's the Post Office too.

0:02:140:02:18

-Hello.

-Hello.

-Are you Patrick?

0:02:200:02:21

-I am Patrick, yes.

-How do you do? I'm Nick. Can I come round the back?

-You can indeed, yes.

0:02:210:02:26

-Hello there.

-Hello.

0:02:290:02:30

I couldn't help noticing, Patrick -

0:02:300:02:32

are these all your customers on the island,

0:02:320:02:34

the people you deliver letters to?

0:02:340:02:35

That's all the customers on the island, yes.

0:02:350:02:37

-You've got them labelled by all their Christian names.

-Labelled by name, yes, yes.

0:02:370:02:41

-Most of the other Post Offices, they go by the numbers.

-Yeah.

-But I just go name and that's it.

0:02:410:02:47

You must know the island better than anybody. Would you take me for a spin?

0:02:470:02:50

I will indeed, yes.

0:02:500:02:52

How many jokes do you have to put up with about Postman Pat, given your name is Patrick?

0:02:530:02:57

Quite a few actually, quite a few.

0:02:570:03:00

What were you doing before you were Eriskay's postie?

0:03:000:03:03

Well, I was 15 and a half when I left home and went to sea,

0:03:030:03:06

into the Merchant Navy.

0:03:060:03:07

I did that for 20 years,

0:03:070:03:10

but every time I was coming home, it was getting harder to go away.

0:03:100:03:14

So I became the postman, and 20 years later I'm still here.

0:03:140:03:17

There's something about the islands out here that really draw you back.

0:03:170:03:23

Strong ties bind people to this place,

0:03:230:03:27

and the islanders aren't the only ones drawn back here.

0:03:270:03:30

There's another group of regular returners...offshore.

0:03:300:03:35

-Permission to board. I'm Nick.

-Hi. I'm Ben.

0:03:350:03:38

'My guide's Ben Wilson.

0:03:380:03:41

'For over ten years,

0:03:410:03:43

'Ben's been following a family of bottlenose dolphins,

0:03:430:03:46

'who've shown up every summer.

0:03:460:03:48

'I'm hoping they haven't changed their plans this year.'

0:03:510:03:56

Right here! Right in front of us here, right under the boat.

0:04:000:04:05

There's a small community of animals. There's about 12 individuals.

0:04:050:04:08

Ben and his colleagues want to know what it is

0:04:080:04:11

that brings the dolphins back here.

0:04:110:04:13

In the summer,

0:04:130:04:15

we tend to find them within about 10km of this spot.

0:04:150:04:19

There's definitely a food supply that's keeping them here.

0:04:190:04:23

Where they go in the winter? Don't really know.

0:04:230:04:25

So I guess that's the jigsaw we've got to build up.

0:04:250:04:28

Shared experience and fun keep communities together,

0:04:280:04:33

at sea and on land.

0:04:330:04:34

I've been invited to the social event of the year.

0:04:390:04:43

The golden wedding anniversary of Roddy and Peggy MacInnes,

0:04:430:04:48

islanders born and bred,

0:04:480:04:50

who're having a ceilidh.

0:04:500:04:51

It looks like everyone on Eriskay has turned out tonight.

0:04:530:04:57

There's a first for everything.

0:05:010:05:03

For me, that's Scottish dancing.

0:05:030:05:07

I've never needed a map so badly!

0:05:110:05:14

We're on a tour of the Scottish islands,

0:05:320:05:35

some 700 individual worlds,

0:05:350:05:40

separated and united by the great seaway between them.

0:05:400:05:46

For hundreds of years,

0:05:460:05:47

sailors and navigators have charted courses over the water.

0:05:470:05:51

But until recently,

0:05:510:05:52

what lay beneath in the deep ocean

0:05:520:05:55

was a complete mystery.

0:05:550:05:57

The quest to discover the secret life of the sea

0:05:570:06:01

began in the waters off Scotland.

0:06:010:06:04

Historian Tessa Dunlop is in Oban on the west coast.

0:06:040:06:09

She's on the trail of a great 19th century adventure.

0:06:090:06:14

This state-of-the-art research vessel

0:06:160:06:19

owes its existence to a voyage undertaken in the 19th century

0:06:190:06:23

by HMS Challenger.

0:06:230:06:25

Challenger was at sea for nearly four years.

0:06:250:06:27

It was an epic voyage around the globe

0:06:270:06:30

to make the first ever survey of the world's oceans.

0:06:300:06:33

The voyage of HMS Challenger

0:06:350:06:38

revolutionised our view of what lives in the deep sea.

0:06:380:06:41

It was one of the greatest adventures in science,

0:06:410:06:44

and it began off the coast of Scotland.

0:06:440:06:48

'It took 50 volumes to report the findings of Challenger's global odyssey.

0:06:480:06:52

'Professor Laurence Mee knows the secrets of these books

0:06:520:06:56

'and their rare creatures.'

0:06:560:06:59

It's one of the original specimens from the Challenger expedition.

0:06:590:07:02

Obviously it's a starfish. It comes from the deep sea off Nova Scotia,

0:07:020:07:06

so these animals live at depths below 1000 metres.

0:07:060:07:09

Before that, people assumed there was nothing down there.

0:07:090:07:12

This was a colossal scientific endeavour.

0:07:120:07:14

The brains behind the Challenger expedition

0:07:150:07:18

was a brilliant Scottish scientist, Charles Wyville Thomson.

0:07:180:07:22

-Hi, Laila.

-Hi. Good morning.

0:07:220:07:24

'People used to think the deep ocean was a barren, dead zone.

0:07:240:07:28

'Wyville Thomson thought otherwise.

0:07:280:07:30

'He set out to find proof of life below.

0:07:300:07:34

'In 1868, Thomson began his search in Scottish seas.'

0:07:340:07:39

Wyville Thomson was actually based at the University of Edinburgh, up here in Scotland.

0:07:390:07:43

He persuaded the Admiralty to lend him a small ship,

0:07:430:07:46

which set off and studied the region between the Faroes and the Scottish coast.

0:07:460:07:51

They found sponges,

0:07:510:07:53

they found cold water corals on reefs just beyond us,

0:07:530:07:55

and organisms with multiple legs

0:07:550:07:58

that people did not believe could live in those dark, deep, high-pressure depths.

0:07:580:08:02

If such wonders were to be found in home waters,

0:08:040:08:08

what would be discovered elsewhere?

0:08:080:08:11

Buoyed with success,

0:08:120:08:14

Wyville Thomson persuaded the British government

0:08:140:08:17

to fund the Challenger expedition,

0:08:170:08:19

the most ambitious scientific endeavour of the age.

0:08:190:08:23

In 1872, they set sail on an epic voyage around the globe.

0:08:250:08:30

They journeyed for three and a half long years.

0:08:300:08:33

Challenger crossed all the great oceans.

0:08:330:08:37

They travelled as far as the Antarctic,

0:08:370:08:40

zig-zagging their way across the Atlantic,

0:08:400:08:44

before finally returning home.

0:08:440:08:47

Everywhere they went,

0:08:470:08:48

they took samples and looked for new creatures.

0:08:480:08:51

The Challenger was also the first official expedition

0:08:530:08:56

to have a photographer.

0:08:560:08:59

They captured images of new cultures around the world, all on photographic plates.

0:08:590:09:03

The people, costumes, traditions,

0:09:030:09:06

were recorded for the first time photographically.

0:09:060:09:08

They took the first ever photo of an Antarctic iceberg.

0:09:080:09:13

This is a rare image of a warrior from the Philippines.

0:09:130:09:16

The Challenger revealed a world never seen before,

0:09:190:09:21

above and below the waves.

0:09:210:09:25

This is a dredge.

0:09:270:09:28

It's very similar to the one used on the Challenger

0:09:280:09:30

and it's used for collecting animals that live on the sea bed.

0:09:300:09:34

We can use similar dredges even in the very deep ocean,

0:09:340:09:37

thousands of metres deep.

0:09:370:09:39

-That is chock-full, isn't it?

-It is.

0:09:390:09:43

It's mainly mud, stones, old shells, but there will be some animals.

0:09:430:09:47

-What is that? It's got purple legs.

-That looks like a hermit crab.

0:09:470:09:51

Yes, little spider crab here.

0:09:510:09:56

It's always exciting. You never know what you're going to find.

0:09:570:10:01

And, of course, if you're doing this in deep water,

0:10:010:10:03

-you can find species that no-one's ever seen.

-Which is what they were doing on the Challenger.

0:10:030:10:08

They were sampling down to over 5,000 metres depth,

0:10:080:10:12

so they were catching things that no-one had ever seen in human history.

0:10:120:10:15

And now, today, how many species do we know of?

0:10:150:10:18

There may be somewhere in the region of 1.5 million species in the oceans,

0:10:180:10:23

most of which we haven't even discovered yet.

0:10:230:10:25

Once, scientists believed the deep sea was lifeless.

0:10:280:10:33

Now, thanks to Wyville Thomson,

0:10:330:10:36

we know the depths are teeming with weird and wonderful creatures.

0:10:360:10:40

140 years after the science of oceanography started in Scottish waters,

0:10:400:10:46

we've still only discovered a small fraction

0:10:460:10:49

of the secret life of the sea.

0:10:490:10:53

The locals have learned to make the most of their island companions,

0:11:200:11:26

whether they're fish, fowl, or any other creatures.

0:11:260:11:29

In the far north, there's a small animal business on Shetland

0:11:330:11:37

that's enjoyed big success.

0:11:370:11:40

Miranda is sizing up the stock.

0:11:400:11:44

For over 4,000 years, these little ponies have roamed around Shetland,

0:11:440:11:49

and you'll find them throughout the islands, grazing by the roadside,

0:11:490:11:52

over on the hills, and even down on the beach.

0:11:520:11:55

Come on, then.

0:11:550:11:57

You come across them everywhere,

0:11:570:12:00

and they cope with all weathers, which is just as well.

0:12:000:12:04

THUNDER

0:12:040:12:07

That's a doorbell!

0:12:100:12:11

-Hello.

-Hi. Lovely to meet you. I'm Miranda.

-That's fine.

0:12:150:12:18

Hi. Are you going to go out in the weather? It's rainy out there.

0:12:180:12:21

Aye, I'll get my hat. Just hold on a minute.

0:12:210:12:23

Jim's family have been breeding Shetland ponies here longer than anyone else on the islands.

0:12:230:12:28

-How's that?

-Great! All dressed for it.

0:12:280:12:31

'Shetland ponies are renowned for their strength,

0:12:320:12:35

'and of course, their size.'

0:12:350:12:38

This is a standard pony, which can be up to 42 inches at the shoulder.

0:12:380:12:44

-And that's a really short one!

-These are miniatures,

0:12:440:12:47

and they can be up to 34 inches at the shoulder.

0:12:470:12:51

So, a show Shetland pony - what are you looking for?

0:12:510:12:54

You want a nice head,

0:12:540:12:56

and I like them slightly dished, which is concave here.

0:12:560:13:01

They have to have big brown eyes, intelligent and kind.

0:13:010:13:04

The forelock should have a lot of hair on it.

0:13:040:13:09

-A shaggy look.

-That's right.

-Typical Shetland look.

-That's right.

0:13:090:13:12

And they're renowned for being a very tough breed. How tough are they?

0:13:120:13:16

Well, as far as strength goes,

0:13:160:13:19

they're the strongest horse for their size in the world.

0:13:190:13:22

And they don't need to be stabled in the winter time,

0:13:220:13:27

they're always outside.

0:13:270:13:28

-Even up here, when it's really cold?

-Even up here. This is where they live.

0:13:280:13:32

This is the place for them, out on the hills.

0:13:320:13:34

They're tough characters.

0:13:340:13:36

-A bit like the islanders here, I would imagine.

-Oh, no, no.

0:13:360:13:40

We're not tough, we're very gentle.

0:13:400:13:42

Today, Shetland ponies are sold worldwide as pets and show horses,

0:13:490:13:54

but just look at this photograph, going back over 150 years.

0:13:540:13:58

The ponies from that island were destined for a life in heavy industry.

0:13:580:14:02

They were to swap the fresh air of Shetland

0:14:020:14:05

for the coal dust and claustrophobia of a life underground as a pit pony.

0:14:050:14:10

'I'm with John Scott, and we're going to the Isle of Noss.

0:14:130:14:17

'It was the site of a breeding programme to produce a super-pony,

0:14:170:14:21

'fit for hauling loads of coal.

0:14:210:14:24

'The finest mares and stallions

0:14:260:14:29

'were kept on the island in splendid isolation.

0:14:290:14:32

'This building was used to breed the best of the bunch.'

0:14:320:14:35

They finally bred this stallion, who they named Jack of Noss,

0:14:350:14:40

who was the kind of ultimate of what they had been breeding for.

0:14:400:14:43

He was, I think the kind of Brad Pitt of the pony world, you know.

0:14:430:14:47

Brad Pitt pit pony! Great.

0:14:470:14:48

And so he became...the foundation of the whole stud-book,

0:14:480:14:54

and so every Shetland pony in the stud-book

0:14:540:14:58

has got blood from Jack of Noss.

0:14:580:15:00

-From right from here?

-Right from here.

0:15:000:15:02

It wasn't looks the breeders were after, but size and strength.

0:15:040:15:08

And they succeeded.

0:15:080:15:10

The Shetland pony could haul tubs of coal weighing up to a tonne.

0:15:100:15:15

Those dark days are over.

0:15:150:15:18

Jack of Noss has long gone,

0:15:180:15:20

but his hardy characteristics live on in the DNA of these Shetland ponies.

0:15:200:15:25

That's why they'll comfortably bear the weight of an adult.

0:15:250:15:29

So I couldn't resist a ride.

0:15:290:15:31

SHE LAUGHS

0:15:430:15:45

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

0:15:470:15:51

Many of the Scottish Isles

0:15:570:15:59

have managed to export their products far out across the seas.

0:15:590:16:05

The Outer Hebrides can boast their own global brand.

0:16:050:16:09

That's what brought me to Tarbert, on Harris.

0:16:100:16:14

This is what I'm after.

0:16:170:16:19

Harris Tweed.

0:16:210:16:23

-Hello there.

-Hi there.

-May I look at your jackets?

0:16:230:16:26

Yes, of course. Just got some over here.

0:16:260:16:28

-Look at those. They're very evocative.

-Yeah, they are.

0:16:280:16:31

They're the colours of Scotland, with the grey rock, the heather...

0:16:310:16:35

And then this one seems to have little traces of blue in it, and awesome colours.

0:16:350:16:40

It's got lots of colours in it. Would you like to try one?

0:16:400:16:42

-Yeah, why not?

-We can try this one.

0:16:420:16:46

This will be a sartorial leap for me,

0:16:460:16:49

to get rid of the old anorak and present Coast in a genuine Harris...

0:16:490:16:53

-Oh, it's very comfortable.

-How's that for you?

-It's lovely.

0:16:530:16:57

Oh, yes. Now, that really is an improvement, don't you think?

0:16:570:17:00

-Yes.

-Coast and beyond!

0:17:000:17:02

There's a reason why the colours of Harris Tweed mirror the landscape.

0:17:050:17:09

Originally, the dyes were produced by local plants and lichens.

0:17:090:17:14

'Textile designer Alice Starmore

0:17:140:17:17

is going to show me how it was done.'

0:17:170:17:19

-Very good to meet you.

-You too.

0:17:190:17:21

-Looks like you've got things started already.

-Yes. I have lit the peat fire.

0:17:210:17:25

I have the water, which obviously you need for dyeing as well.

0:17:250:17:28

I have the fleece, and the only thing I need now is the crottal lichen,

0:17:280:17:32

which is going to actually give me the colour.

0:17:320:17:35

What are we looking out for?

0:17:350:17:37

Well, we're looking out for a very unassuming,

0:17:370:17:39

and drab, grey, crusty stuff,

0:17:390:17:43

which actually is black crottal.

0:17:430:17:45

And here is a very nice crop of it.

0:17:450:17:48

Oh, is this it here?

0:17:480:17:49

-This is it.

-It looks like a spillage of very old porridge.

0:17:490:17:52

It does, but the dye comes out of it very easily.

0:17:520:17:57

It's a beautiful rich bronze-brown shade that you get from it,

0:17:570:18:00

and you can see that it's actually ready to come right off the rock here.

0:18:000:18:04

The Harris people would say that was ripe and ready.

0:18:040:18:07

'Some lichens are protected, but this one's safe to pick.

0:18:070:18:12

'Even so, we're just taking enough to dye one small fleece.'

0:18:120:18:16

-Now for the exciting part.

-Time to get the pot.

0:18:160:18:19

'First, take one scoured fleece and moisten with peat-rich spring water.'

0:18:190:18:25

We're not just bunging it in, we're going to layer it a bit.

0:18:250:18:28

It's important that the dye should be as even as possible.

0:18:280:18:31

-It's a bit like making lasagne!

-It is a bit, yes!

0:18:310:18:34

And it is - the whole thing is a little bit like cooking.

0:18:340:18:37

Pour in the water.

0:18:370:18:39

Yes.

0:18:390:18:41

And as it slowly comes to the boil, rather like a stew,

0:18:410:18:45

all the products will come out and dye the fleece.

0:18:450:18:50

'While we wait for the chemistry to cook,

0:18:500:18:54

'Alice has some samples to show me.

0:18:540:18:56

All colours produced from local lichens and plants.' Look at that.

0:18:560:19:00

It's like silverweed and ragweed.

0:19:000:19:03

Here are the crottal colours,

0:19:030:19:05

and here is the rich dark colour that you would get from cooking it overnight, as it where.

0:19:050:19:11

OK, it's been cooking for some time now, Alice.

0:19:110:19:15

-It's a rich, deep colour, isn't it?

-It's beginning to get orange.

0:19:150:19:18

Look at that.

0:19:180:19:20

That's it in the early stages, so you can see what a slow and painstaking process it was.

0:19:200:19:25

The rules governing the Harris Tweed trademark are strict.

0:19:280:19:32

The cloth must be woven by the people of the Outer Hebrides

0:19:320:19:37

in their own homes.

0:19:370:19:38

MECHANICAL WHIRRING

0:19:380:19:41

I can hear clattering machinery.

0:19:410:19:43

'Donald John Mackay has been busy with the fabric for over 40 years.'

0:19:460:19:50

My goodness!

0:19:500:19:52

So, Donald, how is the loom powered?

0:19:520:19:54

-By my feet.

-Oh, I see, so handmade really means...

0:19:540:19:59

-Means foot power, yes.

-So you cannot have an electric...

-No! No, no, no.

0:19:590:20:04

What's this roll going to be used for?

0:20:040:20:06

This is going to Nike for shoes and bags.

0:20:060:20:10

-Really?

-Yes.

-To Nike?

-Yes.

0:20:100:20:13

-The big sports manufacturer?

-Yes, the big... Yes, yes, yes.

0:20:130:20:16

That's incredible. And what about the threads themselves?

0:20:160:20:19

See, each thread is made up of many, many colours.

0:20:190:20:22

-Isn't that extraordinary? When you look closely, it's a whole rainbow of colours.

-Comes alive.

0:20:220:20:27

Comes alive, exactly! It really comes alive.

0:20:270:20:29

Well, that's Harris Tweed for you.

0:20:290:20:31

Harris is separated from Lewis in name only.

0:20:370:20:42

They're parts of the same island,

0:20:420:20:45

separated not by water,

0:20:450:20:47

but by a range of mountains.

0:20:470:20:50

Across those peaks, on the east coast,

0:20:500:20:53

lies the capital of Lewis, Stornoway.

0:20:530:20:56

A disaster at sea nearly a century ago shocked this community so much,

0:21:000:21:06

the pain is still raw today.

0:21:060:21:10

It's a tragic tale, not often told to outsiders,

0:21:100:21:15

that Neil knows well.

0:21:150:21:17

In the First World War,

0:21:210:21:22

half the male population of Lewis served in the armed forces.

0:21:220:21:28

Many never returned,

0:21:280:21:30

but some perished cruelly close to home.

0:21:300:21:34

More than 200 servicemen died in a disaster off the Scottish coast,

0:21:340:21:39

just days after the Great War ended.

0:21:390:21:43

It's late on New Year's Eve 1918,

0:21:480:21:52

a cold, dark, end to a terrible year.

0:21:520:21:56

But the men on board the Iolaire are in high spirits

0:21:560:21:59

because they're going home.

0:21:590:22:01

The war is over.

0:22:010:22:02

These are just a few of the 280-odd souls who were packed aboard,

0:22:020:22:08

mostly sailors of the Royal Naval Reserve.

0:22:080:22:10

Men from the islands, the Outer Hebrides,

0:22:100:22:13

who'd survived the horrors of the First World War.

0:22:130:22:16

They were on a large civilian yacht, pressed into war service

0:22:200:22:23

and renamed Her Majesty's Yacht Iolaire.

0:22:230:22:27

By 1.50 in the morning, the boat was almost home.

0:22:270:22:31

The servicemen aboard could see the harbour lights of Stornoway.

0:22:310:22:35

They knew their loved ones would be lining the quayside at Stornoway,

0:22:350:22:39

just half a mile away.

0:22:390:22:41

But most of the men crammed aboard the Iolaire that night

0:22:410:22:44

would never see their families again.

0:22:440:22:48

Minutes later, in stormy seas,

0:22:480:22:52

the Iolaire struck a notorious reef - the Beasts Of Holm.

0:22:520:22:55

They were only 30 yards from land,

0:22:580:23:01

but of the 285 men on board, just 80 survived.

0:23:010:23:07

More than half of those that did survive

0:23:090:23:11

owed their lives to one man aboard the stricken ship,

0:23:110:23:14

John Finlay MacLeod, a Lewis man,

0:23:140:23:17

a boat builder, in fact.

0:23:170:23:18

Somehow, amid the chaos,

0:23:180:23:20

he managed to half-scramble, half-swim ashore

0:23:200:23:23

with a line tied around his wrist.

0:23:230:23:25

This monument stands on the spot where John Finlay swam ashore.

0:23:280:23:33

Interviewed in 1973, he recalled that night.

0:23:330:23:37

40 survivors owed their lives to the courage of John Finlay MacLeod,

0:24:040:24:09

but 205 men died on that last night of 1918.

0:24:090:24:14

When dawn finally broke that New Year's Day,

0:24:140:24:17

the people of Lewis were greeted to a dreadful sight.

0:24:170:24:21

There's a photograph showing the wreck of the Iolaire,

0:24:210:24:25

the bulk of her still submerged, and just the mast sticking out.

0:24:250:24:30

As news of the Iolaire disaster spread,

0:24:330:24:36

people walked the coastline, looking for relatives.

0:24:360:24:41

At Sandwick Bay, they found only dozens of bodies.

0:24:410:24:45

Servicemen returning from the Great War.

0:24:460:24:50

These Scots didn't die on the foreign field, but in home water,

0:24:500:24:55

within sight of safety.

0:24:550:24:58

Relatives and friends, looking for loved ones,

0:24:580:25:01

picked their way through the wreckage of the Iolaire

0:25:010:25:04

and what they found were toys,

0:25:040:25:07

presents that fathers never got the chance to give to children.

0:25:070:25:11

In a remote part of Lewis,

0:25:150:25:17

four-year-old Marion Smith was waiting for her father.

0:25:170:25:20

-Oh, hello. Come in.

-Hello, Marion.

0:25:200:25:24

'Kenneth Smith survived the Great War, but only his suitcase made it back home.'

0:25:240:25:28

In his possessions that they found on the beach,

0:25:280:25:32

-they found this box that we have here.

-Mm-hm.

0:25:320:25:34

Inside it are ration cards,

0:25:340:25:40

with which they were issued.

0:25:400:25:43

-So that's your dad, Kenneth Smith.

-Yes.

0:25:430:25:46

And he should have been on leave from the 30th December 1918

0:25:460:25:51

until the 14th January 1919.

0:25:510:25:54

That made it home and he didn't.

0:25:540:25:57

What do you remember about your mum

0:25:580:26:01

on the night when the news arrived at the house?

0:26:010:26:04

She was sitting down, and the neighbours were coming in,

0:26:040:26:09

and also people whom I didn't know were coming in.

0:26:090:26:12

And they all hugged her and they all cried,

0:26:120:26:16

and my grandfather just sat,

0:26:160:26:19

and I would go over and lean across his knees.

0:26:190:26:25

And I remember the tears dropping off his cheeks

0:26:250:26:29

onto the top of my head.

0:26:290:26:32

I couldn't understand what had happened.

0:26:320:26:36

The clock stopped

0:26:360:26:39

and the world changed.

0:26:390:26:42

The people of Lewis were grieving their loss,

0:26:460:26:49

but alongside grief came anger.

0:26:490:26:52

Why had the Iolaire foundered on the Beasts Of Holm?

0:26:520:26:57

Why had so many died within yards of the shore?

0:26:570:27:00

'John Macleod has examined the events of that tragic night.'

0:27:010:27:06

The boat was very under-crewed.

0:27:060:27:09

The officer had never sailed at night.

0:27:090:27:11

It was quite stormy.

0:27:110:27:12

They weren't familiar with the waters, and they lost their way.

0:27:120:27:15

The Iolaire didn't have enough lifeboats for all the men. There weren't enough life jackets.

0:27:150:27:19

It was a disaster waiting to happen.

0:27:190:27:21

You would think that they were so close

0:27:210:27:23

that it ought to have been possible to escape the tragedy.

0:27:230:27:26

You've these huge breakers hammering in,

0:27:260:27:29

so the men who'd jumped into the water were mostly beaten to death.

0:27:290:27:32

They wasn't drowned, they were smashed against the rocks time and time again,

0:27:320:27:36

like being caught in the most nightmarish washing machine.

0:27:360:27:38

The appalling deaths in the Iolaire disaster

0:27:400:27:44

happened just after the Great War ended,

0:27:440:27:47

a war that had already killed 866 men of Lewis.

0:27:470:27:51

A terrible sacrifice.

0:27:510:27:53

Of those who'd volunteered, one in six were dead.

0:27:540:27:57

But the needless loss of all those men aboard the Iolaire

0:27:570:28:01

was the cruellest blow,

0:28:010:28:02

and yet for many years, the response from Lewis was silence.

0:28:020:28:07

Because what could anyone say that mattered?

0:28:070:28:10

And that's why, beyond the islands,

0:28:100:28:12

the name Iolaire is essentially unknown,

0:28:120:28:15

because this was a very private tragedy.

0:28:150:28:18

Amongst the list of names here, Seaman Kenneth Smith.

0:28:180:28:23

For his widow, Christina,

0:28:230:28:26

his death and her grief

0:28:260:28:28

were not something to be shared.

0:28:280:28:30

Did she ever talk to you about your dad and about what happened?

0:28:300:28:36

No, she didn't.

0:28:360:28:39

She never talked about the tragedy at all.

0:28:390:28:44

I remember that she only wore black.

0:28:460:28:50

Black, black.

0:28:500:28:53

If she was baking, she still wore black.

0:28:530:28:57

And to this day...I remember.

0:28:570:29:02

I just didn't like the colour, and I still don't.

0:29:020:29:06

To have come so close to coming home,

0:29:060:29:10

you know, to drown, to die on the doorstep of home.

0:29:100:29:14

Yes, well, as the song said,

0:29:140:29:16

these brave men

0:29:160:29:18

who'd gone so far

0:29:180:29:19

through the dangers of the war,

0:29:190:29:22

by the irony of fate

0:29:220:29:24

were drowned at home.

0:29:240:29:27

Many would envy the sense of community on the Scottish Isles.

0:29:400:29:46

Language and traditions

0:29:460:29:48

bind people together,

0:29:480:29:51

but some of those traditional customs

0:29:510:29:54

may seem at odds with life elsewhere in our islands.

0:29:540:29:57

I've reached my final stop at the tip of the Hebrides, Port of Ness.

0:30:000:30:06

It looks like the end of the line,

0:30:100:30:12

but this little harbour is actually the point of departure

0:30:120:30:16

for a group of men who set sail every August.

0:30:160:30:18

It's a voyage the men of Ness have been undertaking for centuries,

0:30:180:30:22

sons following fathers who followed their fathers.

0:30:220:30:25

They've all been heading for the same spot,

0:30:250:30:27

a lonely rocky island, 40 miles from here, called Sula Sgeir.

0:30:270:30:32

Nobody lives there,

0:30:340:30:36

but it's home to thousands of gannets.

0:30:360:30:38

The men of Ness come to Sula Sgeir to hunt for birds.

0:30:410:30:45

It was a tradition captured on film in the 1950s. Take a look at this.

0:30:470:30:52

They're after the young gannets, known in these parts as guga.

0:30:550:31:00

The guga-hunting season is August,

0:31:000:31:03

when the chicks are almost fully grown.

0:31:030:31:06

There's no shortage of people to buy them.

0:31:060:31:10

Guga is an age-old delicacy in these parts.

0:31:100:31:14

50 years on, the small boy in the film is doing as his father did.

0:31:150:31:20

John MacFarlane is now the leader of the annual guga hunt,

0:31:220:31:25

a time-honoured custom first recorded in 1549.

0:31:250:31:31

It's a big thing in Ness, our community,

0:31:310:31:34

in this part of the island, up the Butt of Lewis end.

0:31:340:31:37

If you mention the community of Ness to someone,

0:31:370:31:39

it's always associated with the guga, with the guga hunt.

0:31:390:31:42

The Ness gannet.

0:31:420:31:45

It's... It's a Ness thing.

0:31:450:31:48

Once, the men of Ness could take as many guga as they could carry.

0:31:480:31:53

But now, they operate under a licence

0:31:530:31:56

to take no more than 2,000 birds a year.

0:31:560:32:00

The Scottish Government licenses the hunt,

0:32:000:32:04

which it's argued is culturally important.

0:32:040:32:06

The ritual hasn't changed in living memory.

0:32:080:32:13

We lift them out of the nest with a 10ft pole,

0:32:130:32:16

with a clamp at the end, around its neck.

0:32:160:32:19

I pass it on to the next person behind me,

0:32:190:32:23

who gives it a whack on the head.

0:32:230:32:25

From the time I pick it out of the nest, to the time it's dead

0:32:250:32:28

is about three seconds.

0:32:280:32:30

We start plucking them,

0:32:300:32:32

taking the feathers off.

0:32:320:32:35

The next part is what we call the factory.

0:32:350:32:37

Two of the boys actually take the down off the birds

0:32:370:32:41

by dipping them into the fire.

0:32:410:32:44

And they're passed onto the next two guys, who actually split them open,

0:32:440:32:48

to leave four quarters of ripe prime guga.

0:32:480:32:53

We then salt them and make a brown pile of them.

0:32:530:32:58

There's a special way of doing it, so that the meat doesn't go off.

0:32:580:33:02

We build a chute to the bottom of the island.

0:33:040:33:07

When we're going home, the gugas go down on the chute.

0:33:070:33:11

What do you say to people

0:33:110:33:13

who find the idea of killing wild sea birds...

0:33:130:33:18

distasteful, abhorrent?

0:33:180:33:20

I don't see any difference between that

0:33:200:33:23

and going into a supermarket and buying a chicken or a turkey.

0:33:230:33:27

Those who oppose us going to the island,

0:33:270:33:30

if you could put a guga and a chicken together,

0:33:300:33:35

how could you explain to the chicken why it should be killed

0:33:350:33:39

and the wild guga go free?

0:33:390:33:43

There's no difference.

0:33:430:33:45

It's for human consumption.

0:33:450:33:48

Guga and guga hunting may not be to everyone's taste,

0:33:500:33:53

but the annual journey to Sula Sgeir

0:33:530:33:56

is a centuries-old tradition,

0:33:560:33:58

one fiercely defended by the men of Ness and their community.

0:33:580:34:03

The Outer Hebrides are famously wild, rugged and beautiful.

0:34:060:34:12

They share a quality that's far less conspicuous.

0:34:120:34:15

The people I've met have a real sense of community, of belonging.

0:34:150:34:20

A conviction that their island is truly their home.

0:34:200:34:24

And that, maybe, is what it means to be an islander.

0:34:240:34:28

Download Subtitles

SRT

ASS