Old Photograph Military Cemetery Kilnaughton Islay Scotland

Old photograph of a military cemetery at Kilnaughton located two miles West of Port Ellen, Islay, Scotland. This cemetery was made in 1918 to bury the dead of the S.S. Tuscania, and 4 Commonwealth crewmen from that vessel are now buried here and 1 American soldier. 84 American graves, mainly of the 20th Engineers, who were passengers on the S.S. Tuscania, were removed. There is 1 unidentified burial, lost in the S.S. Tuscania, here. There are a further 5 Commonwealth burials of the 1939 to 1945 war here. The SS Tuscania was a luxury liner of the Cunard subsidiary Anchor Line, named after a town in Italy. She was torpedoed in 1918 by the German U-boat UB-77 while transporting American troops to Europe and sank, sending 210 people to their death. The Tuscania carried passengers between New York City and Glasgow while in service with the Anchor Line, on a route that had previously been assigned to her sistership Transylvania. She continued to run this route even as World War I broke out in Europe and Germany initiated. On the morning of February 5, 1918, carrying over 2,000 American troops, the HMS Tuscania turned south for the North Channel en route to Liverpool. After an arduous voyage across the North Atlantic, most of those aboard, in sight of the Irish coast to starboard and the Scottish coast to port, surely believed the worst part of their journey was behind them. Spotted by German submarine UB-77 earlier in the day, however, their convoy was stalked until early evening and the cover of darkness. Then, at about 6:40 pm, submarine captain Lt. Comander Wilhelm Meyer ordered two torpedoes fired at the Tuscania. The second of these struck home, sending her, within about four hours, to the bottom of the Channel. Today she lies between Scotland's Islay Isle and Ireland's Rathlin Island, about 7 miles north of Rathlin lighthouse, under 100 meters of sea.



All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.

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