The ''Matchless'' was a British sailing boat which sank in

Morecambe Bay Morecambe Bay is a large estuary in northwest England, just to the south of the Lake District National Park. It is the largest expanse of intertidal mudflats and sand in the United Kingdom, covering a total area of . In 1974, the second larges ...

, off north west England, in 1894 with the loss of 25 lives.

Boat

The ''Matchless'' was a

Lancashire nobby The nobby is an inshore sailing boat which was used as a traditional fishing boat around Lancashire and the Isle of Man. The Lancashire nobby originated in Morecambe Bay about 1840 and around Southport. It subsequently came into widespread use dow ...

sailing boat, used for fishing in winter and for pleasure trips in summer. It was long, of tonnage about 5 tons, and had mainsail, foresail, topsail and jib. It had been built by a Mr Woodhouse in Overton in 1877. On the day of the disaster, as was usual except in rough weather, it was operated by a single boatman, its owner Samuel Houghton, aged 54 and an experienced skipper.

Sinking

On 3 September 1894, Houghton and 33 passengers left

Morecambe Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district in Lancashire, England. It is in Morecambe Bay on the Irish Sea. Name The first use of the name was by John Whitaker in his ''History of Manchester'' (1771), w ...

to sail to Grange-over-Sands. Off

Jenny Brown's Point Jenny Brown's Point is a small headland in Silverdale, Lancashire, Silverdale parish, south of the village of Silverdale, in City of Lancaster district, Lancashire, England, on the edge of Morecambe Bay. Name The point has also been known as Bro ...

, Silverdale, the vessel was caught in a strong gust of wind and capsized. Accompanying boats rescued Houghton and eight passengers; 25 passengers died. Bodies were recovered from a wide area of the bay, as far as

Ulverston Ulverston is a market town and a civil parish in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, England. In the 2001 census the parish had a population of 11,524, increasing at the 2011 census to 11,678. Historically in Lancashire, it lies a few mi ...

, the last being found at Grange-over-Sands on 14 January 1895. The dead were holidaymakers, from the industrial towns of

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

and

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

: the largest number being twelve from

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

Inquests

inquest An inquest is a judicial inquiry in common law jurisdictions, particularly one held to determine the cause of a person's death. Conducted by a judge, jury, or government official, an inquest may or may not require an autopsy carried out by a coro ...

was held in Morecambe on the two mornings after the sinking, 4 and 5 September 1894 and reported in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' of London. The verdict was that the dead were "accidentally drowned". No mention was made of whether the town's arrangements for the licensing of pleasure vessels might have contributed to the tragedy. The foreman of the jury was the chairman of the local authority, so had an interest in maintaining the town's reputation as a safe resort for holidaymakers. There was criticism of the speed with which the inquest had been held, giving families no time to hear the news and make arrangements to attend. The inquest has been described as "A total whitewash". There were several further inquests as more bodies were found; notably, at an inquest held in Arnside, then in the county of

Westmorland Westmorland (, formerly also spelt ''Westmoreland'';R. Wilkinson The British Isles, Sheet The British IslesVision of Britain/ref> is a historic county in North West England spanning the southern Lake District and the northern Dales. It had an ...

, the coroner informed the jury that he had already written the verdict and asked them to agree with it.

Aftermath

In 1895, the town of Morecambe introduced new by-laws for the regulation of pleasure boats, specifying maximum passenger numbers for each boat for both calm and stormy days (a flag being flown each day to show the day's category), a second crew member to be employed for all trips above , and lifebelts and lifelines to be carried on all sailing vessels.

References

Maritime incidents in 1894 Shipwrecks of England Morecambe Bay 1877 ships {{boat-stub