The Drowned and the Saved: – Saltire Society History Book of The Year 2018
By Les Wilson and George Robertson
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
'Next morning at about 6 o’clock my mother wakened us to say there had been a shipwreck and bodies were being washed ashore. My father had gone with others to look for survivors ... I don’t think any survivors came in at Port Ellen but bodies did.'
The loss of two British ships crammed with American soldiers bound for the trenches of the First World War brought the devastation of war directly to the shores of the Scottish island of Islay.
The sinking of the troopship Tuscania by a German U-Boat on 5 February 1918 was the first major loss of US troops in in the war. Eight months after the people of Islay had buried more than 200 Tuscania dead, the armed merchant cruiser Otranto collided with another troopship during a terrible storm. Despite a valiant rescue attempt by HMS Mounsay, the Otranto drifted towards Islay, hit a reef, throwing 600 men into the water. Just 19 survived; the rest were drowned or crushed by the wreckage.
Based on the harrowing personal recollection of survivors and rescuers, newspaper reports and original research, Les Wilson tells the story of these terrible events, painting a vivid picture which also pays tribute to the astonishing bravery of the islanders, who risked their lives pulling men from the sea, caring for survivors and burying the dead.
Les Wilson
Les Wilson is a writer and award-winning documentary maker. Among his film credits is the 30-part series Scotland’s War, an oral history of the Second World War, and the 13-part series The Real Tartan Army, a TV history of the Scottish regiments. He is the co-editor of Islay Voices (Birlinn, 2016) and the author of The Drowned and the Saved: When War Came to the Hebrides (Birlinn, 2018), which won the Saltire Society History Book of the Year award, 2018.
Read more from Les Wilson
Putting the Tea in Britain: The Scots Who Made Our National Drink Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Drowned and the Saved: When War Came to the Hebrides Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Drowned and the Saved: When War Came to the Hebrides Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOrwell's Island Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to The Drowned and the Saved
Related ebooks
Illiam Dhone: Patriot or Traitor?: The Life, Death and Legacy of William Christian Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIsland of Barbed Wire: The Remarkable Story of World War Two Internment on the Isle of Man Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsScotch on the Rocks: The True Story Behind Whisky Galore Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Orkney and Scapa Flow at War 1939–45 Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Mayday!: Shipwrecks, Tragedies & Tales from Long Island's Eastern Shore Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAttack on Orleans: The World War I Submarine Raid on Cape Cod Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Isle of Man in the Great War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5In The Field Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTwo Worlds Collide: A richly illustrated true story of the Arctic Convoys and the German submariners in WW2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBell Island: Dawn of First Light Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Admiralty Salvage in Peace and War 1906–2006: Grope, Grub and Tremble Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Folklore of Orkney & Shetland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The T.W. Lawson: The Fate of the World's Only Seven-Masted Schooner Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Once In, Never Out Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pirates, Privateers, and Rebel Raiders of the Carolina Coast Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNorfolk Coast in the Great War: King's Lynn, Hunstanton, Sheringham, Cromer and Great Yarmouth Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Ohio and Malta: The Legendary Tanker That Refused to Die Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Scapegoat: A History of Blaming Other People Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jacka VC: Australian Hero Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Dirty Swindle: True Stories of Scots in the Great War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsJohnny Jones: A Colonial Saga Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAssault on Juno Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Hell or Some Worse Place: Kinsale 1601 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsStones Corner - Turmoil Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhen I Heard the Bell: The Loss of the Iolaire Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Northern Lights: A History of the Arctic Scots Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRusting Relics Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsClacton-on-Sea and the Surrounding Coastline in the Great War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWreck of the Faithful Steward on Delaware's False Cape, The Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Battle of Stonington: Torpedoes, Submarines, and Rockets in the War of 1812 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
European History For You
Iron, Fire and Ice: The Real History that Inspired Game of Thrones Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Violent Abuse of Women: In 17th and 18th Century Britain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mein Kampf: English Translation of Mein Kamphf - Mein Kampt - Mein Kamphf Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Mein Kampf: The Original, Accurate, and Complete English Translation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Very Secret Sex Lives of Medieval Women Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5A Victorian Lady's Guide to Fashion and Beauty Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Celtic Mythology: A Concise Guide to the Gods, Sagas and Beliefs Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Time Traveler's Guide to Medieval England: A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hitler's Monsters: A Supernatural History of the Third Reich Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Discovery of Pasta: A History in Ten Dishes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Quite Nice and Fairly Accurate Good Omens Script Book: The Script Book Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Origins Of Totalitarianism Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Putin's People: How the KGB Took Back Russia and Then Took On the West Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Anglo-Saxons: A History of the Beginnings of England: 400 – 1066 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gulag Archipelago [Volume 1]: An Experiment in Literary Investigation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dark Queens: The Bloody Rivalry That Forged the Medieval World Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A History of Magic and Witchcraft: Sabbats, Satan & Superstitions in the West Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Forgotten Highlander: An Incredible WWII Story of Survival in the Pacific Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Faithful Spy: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Plot to Kill Hitler Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Blitzed: Drugs in the Third Reich Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jane Austen: The Complete Novels Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Anarchy: The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of English Magic Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Witch: A History of Fear, from Ancient Times to the Present Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rise of the Fourth Reich: The Secret Societies That Threaten to Take Over America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Drowned and the Saved
0 ratings0 reviews