Scottish Islands Explorer - November-December 2016

NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2016 SCOTTISH ISLANDS EXPLORER 25

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READERS’ OPPORTUNITIES

Further Information

Edited by James Irvine

Available only from The Orcadian

Bookshop 50 Albert Street Kirkwall

KW15 1HQ 01856 878888

http://www.orcadian.co.uk/shop/index.php

£25.00

HMS Hampshire:

A Century of Myths and Mysteries Unravelled

I

n June 1916 HMS Hampshire,

carrying Lord Kitchener to Russia

for talks with the Tsar, struck a mine

west of Orkney and sank within a few

minutes with the loss of all but twelve

of the 749 on board. Two weeks later,

a further nine men died when Laurel

Crown hit a nearby mine. From that

day to this, stories have been told in

Orkney of the weather that night,

sabotage, conspiracy, suffering and

compassion.

Some of the facts are known, some

are firmly believed and some, no

doubt, are apocryphal. The most often

quoted is that soldiers prevented

locals descending the cliff to attempt

the rescue of those who did manage

to make it ashore on rafts. Anger at

this persists in Orkney, handed down

as oral tradition through families.

Horrors of War

Twelve men were rescued or saved

themselves, and the eyes of some

old people still fill with tears as they

recall the night their parents and

grandparents took them in, close to

death. It comes as no satisfaction to

learn, as we did recently, that the

commander of U75that laid the mine

was lost, off Orkney, in 1918 when his

new command, U102, also hit a mine

• just more horrors of war.
  James Irvine has assembled an
  excellent team of local writers with
  local knowledge to cover, between
  them, every conceivable aspect of
  this story of intrigue, mystery and
  adversity. The 2016 centenary
  commemorations are included. The
  writers, who are careful to distinguish
  between fact and supposition, offer
  possible explanations for why
  seemingly abhorrent actions were or
  were not taken.
  The Admiralty published a report in
  1926 to refute all the accusations
  made against it. Then, as now, if you
  believe all the excuses, you could
  find the authorities almost blameless.
  Using vivid, eye-witness accounts
  from survivors, would-be rescuers
  and cliff-top watchers, as well as later
  research, each contributor pieces
  together the best version of the story
  we have.

Fanciful Theories

Admiralty and German records as

well as contemporary letters are

quoted. Appropriate maps,

photographs and facsimiles are

presented. The most fanciful theories

are analysed - that Kitchener was

killed by a saboteur’s bomb placed on

board, that German spies had discov-

ered Hampshire’sroute for the mines

to be laid, that the ship was carrying

gold to Russia or, maybe, being sent

to bring gold back?

It could also be that Lord Kitchener

survived, made it to Russia, took

over the Bolshevik Party, changed

his name to Joseph Stalin and lived

to the ripe old age of 102!

Two things are certain: 746 lives

were lost in the most awful circum-

stances and James Irvine and team

have created a magnificent, written

memorial to them. Proceeds will go to

the final costs of the new memorial

wall that bears all the names of the

dead, on the clifftop overlooking

Hampshire’s final resting place.