On this day , 29th of September 1853,  the ‘Annie Jane‘ was wrecked close to Vatersay, Outer Hebrides.

350 people died and are buried in mass graves. There were 102 survivors who then had to find their own way home or onward. There is a memorial on Vatersay at the bay where the bodies washed ashore.

The ship was on its way to a new life in Canada. It is all too easy to forget the danger so many people faced migrating by sea for a chance to have a better life in another country.