DUE WEST beyond the shores of Islay, there is nothing between Scotland and America but the vast Atlantic Ocean. Towards the end of the First World War, two disasters off the coast of this small Hebridean island would unite the nations in tragedy.
In February 1918, the end of the conflict was drawing near, but victory was still painfully far away and German U-boats were still lurking off the west coast of Scotland. The passenger liner Tuscania, which had been built for Cunard and requisitioned for the transport of US troops, was en route from Hoboken, New Jersey, to the north coast of France. Just over 2,000 American soldiers and more than 300 crew were on board the ship, which joined Convoy HX-20 at Halifax, Nova Scotia.
On 5 February, the convoy had entered the British waters between Scotland and Northern Ireland, when a German submarine attacked. UB-77, under the command of Lt-Cmdr Wilhelm Meyer, torpedoed the ship, scoring a direct hit – though some eyewitness accounts questioned whether Meyer had intended to strike the Tuscania or another ship in the convoy.
For the next few hours, the lives of those on board the Tuscania hung in the balance. The crew set about launching lifeboats and rafts to get the men off the ship as it began to sink slowly into the dark water. The fate of the ship was sealed, and a few hours after the attack the Tuscania sank, seven miles off the Mull of Oa on the south-west tip of Islay. An estimated 230 lives were lost.
Irvin S Cobb, a soldier on one of the other ships in the convoy, was among those who watched the Tuscania go down. He later wrote in the
Saturday Evening Post of the sense of shame he felt as his own ship obeyed orders to abandon the Tuscania to its fate.
"We knew, of course, that we were under orders to get safely away if we could in case one of those sea adders, the submarines should attack our convoy," he wrote in March 1918.
"We knew that guardian destroyers would even now be hurrying to the rescue; and we knew land was not many miles away; but all the same, I think I never felt such an object of shame as I felt that first moment when the realization dawned on me that we were fleeing from a stricken vessel instead of hastening back to give what succor we could."
Many of the soldiers were rescued and taken safely ashore, either at Islay or nearby Northern Ireland, but not everyone was able to get off the ship safely. On 8 February,
The Scotsman reported the "thrilling scenes" of "superb discipline and courage" of survivors left in the icy water from 6.30pm until their rescue at 1am the next morning.
Sgt E C Du Buque of Brooklyn, an eyewitness who was rescued from a raft by a schooner, said that after the torpedo struck the men were lined up on deck and, standing to attention, began to sing
The Star Spangled Banner. Du Buque also reported that around eight of the ship's lifeboats had been destroyed in the attack and that some men were killed when they were struck by rafts in the water. Many lifeboats could not withstand the rocks off the coast of the island.
The American people mourned their loss deeply, but only a few months later, tragedy would return to the shores of Islay and the families of hundreds more US troops. On 6 October 1918, the HMS Otranto was carrying troops from New York to Glasgow when it collided with the steamship HMS Kashmir, also carrying American troops, during a heavy storm.
The Otranto was badly damaged, and despite a daring rescue attempt by the destroyer, the HMS Mounsey, more than 400 lives were lost when the ship drifted towards shore and was wrecked near Machir Bay. The Kashmir made it safely to shore, with no loss of life.
Many of the soldiers who died in the disaster were buried on Islay and other islands where they were washed ashore, including Rum, Eigg and Canna. Some were later exhumed and returned to the United States for reburial.
Within weeks of the Otranto disaster, plans were announced for a lasting memorial on Scottish soil. On 7 December 1918,
The Scotsman reported that plans had been approved for a monument to be erected by the American Red Cross at the Mull of Oa "overlooking the various small cemeteries in which the American soldiers are buried".
The monument was erected in 1920 on the edge of the cliffs overlooking the Atlantic. It bears the legend: "On Fame's eternal camping ground, their silent tents are spread, while glory keeps with solemn round, the bivouac of the dead."
Visitors to this remote spot, which is now a nature reserve owned by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, noted as a place to watch golden eagles, can still remember the Americans who lost their lives in Scottish waters.
