Isle of Lewis
The crew of the Kilda
Three Lewis fishermen went out on the Kilda on 13 October. Douglas Craigie has been brought home and laid to rest. Tam Murray and Murdo Morrison are still missing.
The Kilda, a small creel boat, left Brevaig on the west side of Lewis at about half past seven on the morning of Tuesday 13 October. Her crew took her round to fish off Port of Ness, at the northern tip of the island. When she had not come home by that evening, the alarm was raised. Lifeboats, helicopters and a coastguard plane went out into a storm to look for her.
In the early hours of Wednesday morning, the search crews found Douglas Craigie off Port of Ness. Douglas was the skipper. He was 49, a father of three from Carloway and an elder of his church. The next day would have been his fiftieth birthday.
His crewmates have not yet been found. Norman Murray, known as Tam, is 40 and comes from Ness. Murdo Morrison, from Barvas, is 23. The coastguard and lifeboats searched through gales until the Thursday evening, and police divers have carried on since. On 22 October they recovered items from the Kilda off Port of Ness, but there is still no sign of the boat herself or of the two men. Police Scotland is treating Tam and Murdo as missing, and the Marine Accident Investigation Branch has begun looking into how the Kilda was lost.
Douglas was buried on Friday 23 October. Carloway Church was full, and thousands more watched the service online. He was laid to rest in Dalmore Cemetery, and the collection went to the RNLI.
Carloway Church, 23 October
“A sunny disposition which could light up every gathering he was a part of.”
The Rev William Heenan, speaking at the funeral. He said Douglas knew the dangers of the sea and always respected them.
Friends have called Douglas a legend and a true gentleman. Torcuil Crichton, the MP for the islands, remembered his wit and charm at the fishermen’s conference in Uist last year. He spoke of Tam as a well-respected man in Ness and one of the Men of Ness who go out each year to the guga hunt. Murdo, also a guga hunter, was, he said, exactly the kind of young man the islands hope will go to sea and keep that old way of life going.
Kenneth Macleod, convener of Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, called it a very dark day for Ness and for the whole of Lewis. A minute’s silence was held at the Royal National Mòd in Glasgow. The Western Isles Fishermen’s Association has called it one of the worst losses at sea on Lewis in a generation.
Our condolences
Reform UK Scotland sends its deepest sympathy to Douglas’s family, and to the families of Tam and Murdo, who are still waiting for news. Our thoughts are with the people of Carloway, Barvas and Ness, and with everyone on Lewis who has felt this loss.
Fishing is hard and dangerous work, and nobody knows that better than the people who do it. They go out early and in all weathers so that the rest of us can eat. The same is true of everyone who works on the front line of industry, on boats and farms, on building sites and in factories. We do not thank them often enough. Our thoughts are with every family that sees someone off to that kind of work and waits for them to come home.
We are grateful to the coastguard, the RNLI, the helicopter crews, the police and the local fishermen who have given so much to the search. Along with everyone on the island, we hope that Tam and Murdo will be found.
The Western Isles Fishermen’s Association has set up an appeal to support all three families, and their children, in the years ahead. By 27 October it had raised £218,917 towards its target of £250,000.
