Arandora Star Commemoration at Knockvologan Beach.

Description

Eighty-two years ago on the 2nd July 1940 the former Blue Star liner ship got torpedoed by a German submarine on its way to Canada. On board were 1673 people: Italian & German internees, German prisoners of war, military guards and crew. Less than half of the passengers survived the shipwreck. One of the fourteen lifeboats was drifting at Knockvologan bay where it was tugged ashore and still is, hidden under the sand.

We will gather around the buried hull of the lifeboat to share thoughts, stories and poetry. After this ceremony, we have prepared a special event in the KNOCKvologan Barn with two guests of honour.

Artist Stephen Shaw from Manchester will reveal a large wall piece; a collage of drawings, maps, photos, poems, documents and handwriting. The idea behind this work is that it will keep evolving by inclusions/interventions of other people on The Ross.

Derek Duncan, professor of Italian at the School of Modern Languages at St Andrews, will tell about his book in progress that looks at literary representations of two sinkings – the Arandora Star and the one which took place off the coast of the Italian island of Lampedusa on 3 October 2013. In his research he delves into issues such as citizenship, cultural memory, and also colonialism as both sinkings are connected transnationally to Italy’s colonial history.

Period	2 Jul 2022
Event title	Arandora Star Commemoration at Knockvologan Beach
Event type	Other
Location	Fionnphort, Mull, United KingdomShow on map
Degree of Recognition	National