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The sinkings of the SS Tuscania and HMS Otranto
Around 700 men lost their lives in two separate disasters off the coast of Islay in 1918. On 5 February, en route from New Jersey to Liverpool, the troop carrier SS Tuscania was torpedoed by a German submarine off the coast of Islay and sank. Over 200 men lost their lives. Eight months later, on 6 October, another troop carrier β HMS Otranto, en route from New York to Liverpool β collided with another ship in a terrible storm off the same coast, killing nearly 500 men.
