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Ann an 1923 dh’fhàg dà bhàta-smùide, an SS Marloch agus an SS Metagama na h-Eileanan an Iar a’ dèanamh air Canada le faisg air 600 eilthireach air bòrd, a’ sireadh beatha nas fheàrr ann an Aimeireagaidh a Tuath.

Bha an dà bhàta seo a’ riochdachadh iomairtean gu math eadar-dhealaichte bho chèile. Chaidh am Marloch a lìonadh le teaghlaichean air am mealladh leis a’ gheall gun deidheadh coimhearsnachd ùr Chaitligeach a stèidheachadh ann an Red Deer, Alberta. Air a’ Mhetagama, b’ e Leòdhasaich òga, singilte a bh’ anns a’ mhòr chuid, a’ lorg chothroman nach robh rim faighinn anns na h-Eileanan. Ach, chaidh buaidh mhaireannach a thoirt air na coimhearsnachdan a dh’fhàg iad às an dèidh – coimhearsnachdan a bha fhathast a’ strì ri buaidh a’ chogaidh, prìobhaideachd eaconamach, agus bho thaobh Leòdhais agus na Hearadh, call na h-uimhir air an Iolaire. Thàinig an t-sreath bho na sgeulachdan aig cuid a bh’ air bòrd.

Anns a’ phrògram seo, tha Dòmhnall ag innse mun bheatha mhath a rinn e dha fhèin ann an Detroit, agus mun chianalas air a bheil cuimhne aige fhathast.

In April 1923, two steamers left the Western Isles for Canada with nearly 600 emigrants on board; they were the SS Marloch and the SS Metagama sailing from Lochboisdale and Stornoway with nearly 600 islanders seeking a better life in North America.

These two ships represented very different ventures.
The Marloch was filled with families enticed by the promise of a new model Catholic community being set up in Red Deer, Alberta. The majority of passengers on the Metagama were young, single Lewismen looking for opportunities not available to them at home. What they had in common was a lasting impact on the communities they left behind - communities still struggling with the effects of war, economic privation and in the case of Lewis and Harris, the loss of so many on the Iolaire.

Marloch is Metagama: Guthan is a series of dramatised monologues inspired by the recollections of some of those on board. In this episode, Donald tells of the good life he’s made for himself in Detroit, and of the homesickness he still remembers feeling.

In Gaelic with English subtitles