HMY Iolaire was an Admiralty Yacht that sank at the entrance to Stornoway harbour on 1 January 1919, with the loss of at least 201 men out of the 283 on board. The overcrowded vessel was trying to negotiate a difficult route under exceptionally bad weather conditions. The disaster cost the Isle of Lewis almost the whole of its young male population.

Stornoway is the main town, and by far the largest town, of the Outer Hebrides, or Western Isles, and the capital of Lewis and Harris in Scotland.