Old travel Blog photograph of the Emigrant Ship Metagama near Dumbarton, Scotland. The Metagama, of the Canadian Pacific Line, outward bound from Glasgow for Quebec and Montreal in Canada, and the cargo steamer Baron Vernon, inward bound from Italy, collided in Clyde waters near Dumbarton Rock on Friday night, 25th May 1923, between nine and ten o’clock. On board the liner there were fully 1100 passengers, most of whom had retired to rest. The Metagama returned under her own steam to Glasgow Harbour for examination, and she arrived shortly after midnight. The Metagama plied a route between Scotland and Eastern Canada; on Saturday 21 April 1923, she sailed from Stornoway with 300 young Lewis emigrants on board, all but 20 of them young men, with an average age of 22. Contrary to early waves of emigration, these young settlers were not driven from their homes by fear of starvation and landlessness, but many did feel that Lewis offered few prospects for the young. The loss to the island was palpable. Further emigration ensued, with ships sailing direct between Stornoway and Canada, but the Metagama caught the imagination of the press and pages of photographs and stories appeared in both British and Canadian newspapers.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
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