Descendants of men who died on board HMY Iolaire have spoken of the lasting impact it has had on their communities.
Sharon Smith’s great-uncle Malcolm Thomson died in the disaster, aged 27, but he was never supposed to be on the doomed ship.
The able seaman was due to head back on an earlier sailing, but had bumped into two friends from the island’s small community of Swainbost.
Having not seen each other for four years, he decided to return home with them on the HMY Iolaire.
Ms Smith said: “They were coming home at the end of the First World War. They were coming home in time for New Year celebrations. There was so much joy and happiness among that.
“For them to lose their lives so close to home, in such tragic circumstances, had a tremendous affect on the island.
“It was almost like a blanket of grief had covered the island.”
But the 44-year-old nurse, from Stornoway, believes the community has been able to build something positive out of the tragedy.
She said: “It’s brought people closer together, made us appreciate our family and look into our family history.
“I feel closer to him, though I never met him, I don’t know him personally.”
Ruairidh Moir, 29, is the same age his great-great uncle Kenneth Campbell was when he perished at sea.
He was one of seven brothers who fought in the war, in which two died, and fought from 1914 to 1918.
Mr Moir said his great-great grandmother received a letter from the king saying she could pick one of her children to be removed from duty to go back home to Tolsta, Lewis.
She decided not to make that decision and they remained in the fight.
He said: “It’s just beyond comprehension and that’s why it’s important – for their sake and our sake – that we don’t let it go unnoticed.
“200 men out of a fragile island community. If they had made it, what would the island have been now?”
Kathreen Hunter’s grandfather Norman MacLeod died in the disaster aged 36.
The former fisherman of Arnol, Lewis, left behind his wife and two young sons.
Mrs Hunter’s father John MacLeod would never talk about losing his parent before his first birthday, often shrugging questions off by saying he could not remember.
But he did pen a poem in Gaelic – The War Widow – describing how his mother would every year wash the uniform his father was dressed in when he was found on the shore.
The 62-year-old retired teacher of Inverness said: “It was just so raw and too sore for him to speak about.
“The hardship they went through, with very little support and no counselling.”