This splendid photograph of the Coll Scottish Horse mustered in front of the old castle shows the islanders responding to the call to arms. The troopers, led by their instructor, Capt. Toyer, had to supply their own horses. Details of some of the men are as follows:John Ferguson, a `southern farmer', later emigrated to Australia; L.H. Maclean later farmed at Arileod; John Macfadyen was `John Hyne'; George Macdonald lived at Lonban; Duncan Macfadyen was known as `The Fair'; James Clement was `an incomer'. The peace of Coll itself was not greatly disturbed during the war. Its young men went off to battle; seven did not return, as the village memorial testifies. A few unknown bodies were washed ashore and buried here. There were rumours of German sailors landing at night to slaughter and carry off sheep for their own ships' kitchens, and of spies armed with maps and binoculars - one spotted near Friesland, another at the East end. The sounds of war were seldom heard, but on the 29th July, 1918 a young Collach gathering razor shells on Eleraig beach was startled by the distant noise of gunfire. A German submarine was firing at The Plover, the mail-boat that was bound for the Outer Isles. Local lore has it that a soldier from Barra who was on board manned the Plover's single stern gun and fired hack, but the submarine submerged, probably undamaged. On its return journey the Plover picked up two young Collachs who were off to the war; one of them was Archibald MacLean, and here is his story: .... I was born in 1900 and went to the public school on the hill till I was fourteen, when I went on a fishing boat called the Kate Forbes as a cook. The first World War started and when I was seventeen I went to Glasgow and joined the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve. I was told to go back to the fishing and if required I'd be sent for. When I was eighteen I got word to go and join the R.N.V.R. My last job before joining up, I remember, was to go round the Coll beaches in the fishing boat collecting up oil barrels and taking them to Oban. We got £20 wages each for a fortnight's work at that and felt we were rich! I left Coll on the Plover that was on her way back from Barra - on the same trip she had been fired on by a German submarine. Alan Macdonald of Lonban went off with me, but he had to join the Army because only those of us acquainted