My personal story: Heimaey 1973 to 2024

Following the story of the Heimaey 1973 volcanic eruption

In January 1973, I was a (very) young Geography teacher at my first school. 1973… this was the year that Skylab was launched, the year of the world’s first cell phone call, when the Xerox Alto computer was on the market (at $32000, around $134000 in today’s money) and the UK joined what was to become the European Union.

I heard about the Helgafell eruption on Heimaey on the radio, early one morning when I was getting ready to go to school. You must remember that back then, news took days to reach around the world. What was amazing about Eldfell was that every night on the TV news, we could see coverage of the incredible eruption from earlier that day. Before then, images and films of world events may have taken days to reach us. I watched with fascination what was unfolding. It was so surreal.

We saw images of the eruption, the explosiveness of the raw energy, the people being helped onto the fishing boats in the harbour, and the volunteers remaining to make a stand to save the island. For week after week, we heard about the ash and cinders, the lava bombs, the poisonous gases, and lava pouring out destroying the town and threatening to block the harbour.

I watched as the lava was advancing towards the harbour entrance. There was a real fear that If the entrance were to be blocked, then it was said that the town could not be rebuilt. If the harbour were destroyed, then fishing would not be possible, and the island would be abandoned.

The coverage was so real to me and my students. We felt the power of the eruption.

Ian Geddes

The coverage was so real to me and my students. We felt the power of the eruption. They were enthralled. We speculated what would happen next. We saw about 1/3 of the town being destroyed by fire and crushed under the weight of the ash. We watched the lava flow unrelentingly towards the harbour. We talked about the people evacuated from their homes, many now living hundreds of miles away on the mainland, wondering if they could ever return.

Even today, 51 years later, I have an image etched in my brain… an image taken from the cemetery. I can see an entrance archway, the graveyard buried until metres of black ash, and the skyline alive with fountains of lava and lava bombs being thrown into the air. We listened and watched the ‘experts’ discuss the options… could we save the harbour? Barriers were built and swept aside by the 1000-degree flows, and I watched as pipelines were built and millions of gallons of seawater sprayed on the advancing lava. Nothing seemed to work… then the lava began to slow down, with the lava flow now being diverted away from the narrow harbour entrance. In the classroom, we rejoiced… the harbour was safe, and the people slowly started to return… the fishing boats could bring wealth and jobs back to the island.

Iceland Horse. A graveyard in Heimaey, Westman Islands, Iceland, that was nearly destroyed by the most recent volcano.

I remember saying to myself – I am going to go there one day – and I did. Thanks to Rayburn, I became a ‘Field Study Tutor’, visiting in 2011. I sought out the cemetery. I climbed the slopes of the volcano. I sat overlooking the harbour and remember finding a little fissure in the surface with scalding rocks and super-heated steam emerging. I had thought about this and carried with me a little pan, some butter and some eggs (yes really!), and I fried up a breakfast. Even thinking about it now, I get emotional. I have been back 20 times. I never get tired of visiting Heimaey. It means so much to me, and I continue to wonder about the awesomeness of our planet.

So, never lose your ability to be excited, sense moments that will live forever, and realise your dreams. I did on Heimaey. When you visit, you will find an orderly, tidy, and affluent little town. Just raise your eyes towards the volcano and let your imagination run free.

Discovering the past of Heimaey

Cath Rule, Geography Development Manager for Rayburn Tours, visits Heimaey to discover the impact of the 1973 Eldfell eruption.

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Author

Ian Geddes

Field Study Tutor

Glaswegian Ian Geddes has been a Field Study Tutor with Rayburn Tours since 2011 and specialises in Iceland and Morrocco. In that time, he’s completed almost 80 trips!

He’s taught for decades. Lectured. Been involved in the Scottish exam system. Authored the course textbook for higher geography in Scotland. He also brings barrels of fun and learning to the classes he leads while on tour.

Mixing laughs with a vast back catalogue of educational content, Ian quickly dispels any teacher-student relationship with classes on tour so he can educate on a more informal level.