Kilda search finds no trace at two sites off Lewis

What do two unsuccessful searches change in the effort to find Kilda and its missing crew? They establish that two promising places have yielded no trace of the fishing boat—not where it is, or what happened to the men. Investigators have examined both sites off the northern end of the Isle of Lewis, while the search for Norman Murray and Murdo Morrison continues.⁠²

The findings, publicly reported on 4 November 2026, leave the central questions unresolved. The maritime exclusion zone has been lifted, but the Marine Accident Investigation Branch’s preliminary assessment remains under way. Neither development amounts to an announcement that the search has ended.⁠²

Kilda disappeared on 13 October with three men aboard. Search teams recovered the body of their crewmate Douglas Craigie the following day. Murray and Morrison remain unaccounted for; the latest examinations have provided no confirmed location for either them or the vessel.⁠²

The two sites were east of the Butt of Lewis, at the island’s northern end. The Northern Lighthouse Board vessel NLV Pharos identified them during a weekend survey, and by 2 November they had emerged as areas requiring further investigation. Police Scotland’s notice about the survey described leads needing assessment, not a confirmed discovery of Kilda.⁠¹¹

The MAIB subsequently examined both sites with assistance from fish-farming company Mowi. Neither examination found any trace of the missing boat, BBC Scotland reported. Local outlet We Love Stornoway also reported Police Scotland’s account that the examinations had been completed “with nothing found”.⁠²⁠¹³

That is a substantive change from the position we described on 29 October. Our report then concerned Pharos’s planned deployment from 30 October to support the search and accident investigation. It was a planned addition to the operation, not a successful location of the boat. The work has now progressed through a survey, the identification of two targets and examinations that did not find Kilda.

Pharos carries hydrographic and wreck-survey equipment, the reason it was brought in to assist. Its role illustrates an important distinction in this search: equipment that helps investigators identify places worth examining does not, by itself, establish what lies there. The two targets were reasons to investigate, not evidence that the missing vessel had been located.⁠²

The negative findings matter because they answer the immediate question raised by those targets. But their reach is limited. They do not establish Kilda’s location elsewhere, explain its disappearance or resolve the fate of the two missing men. Treating an unsuccessful examination as a wider conclusion would ask the evidence to say more than it does.

The lifting of the maritime exclusion zone is a separate change. BBC Scotland reported that it was no longer in force while also reporting that the MAIB’s preliminary assessment continued. The assessment has not been presented as complete, and this update contains no finding explaining the loss of Kilda.⁠²

The timing needs the same care as the result. The completed examinations and the lifted zone were reported on 4 November, but that reporting date does not establish the precise time the searches finished or when the zone ceased to apply. Nor does it establish when either development was first announced.⁠¹⁠¹³

Police Scotland Inspector Neil Taylor made clear that the objective remains finding the vessel and the men, with the accident branch, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency and local maritime experts still involved.⁠²

Taylor also thanked the partners supporting the operation, including Pharos and Mowi staff, and said: “Our thoughts remain with everyone affected by this tragic incident.”⁠²

For the families waiting for news, the distinction between progress in an investigation and an answer is painfully consequential. Two leads have been examined, but there is still no confirmed location for Kilda, Murray or Morrison. The next meaningful development would be evidence that helps locate them or explain the boat’s loss. This update provides neither—and the continuing search remains the essential fact.