Morag Bennett News Today

Men, women and children sailed out of Stornoway and Castlebay in the Metagama and the Marloch 100 years ago for Canada.

For many it was the adventure of a lifetime, for others it was unbearable heartache to leave loved ones behind. For a young Robert Burns in 1786, it was a way out from penury, failure and disgrace. Only the unexpected success of his first published collection, Poems Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, prevented his departure to Jamaica to work as slave master on a sugar plantation. Literary fame ensued and Burns remained in the land of his birth. Since 1800, 4 million Scots have left their country...