More information : This RNLI lifeboat from Southport on service, capsized drowning 14 of her 16 man crew in wind conditions WNW force 8. She had been launched to the rescue of the crew of the three-masted barque MEXICO which had gone aground on a sandbank between Southport and Lytham St. Anne's. Neither the Southport nor the St Anne's lifeboats reached the wreck, and at some time during the night in dreadful weather conditions, both capsized, with the loss of 28 lifeboatmen, leaving 16 widows and 50 orphans. The disaster so touched the heart of the nation, that both Queen Victoria and the German Kaiser both made large donations, and the sum of £30,000 was raised in a matter of only weeks by public subscription. There is a compelling memorial to the disaster on the promenade at St. Anne's, of a fully dressed lifeboatman wearing a lifejacket gazing out to sea. The twelve survivors of the MEXICO were saved by the Lytham lifeboat, the German Emperor sending a monetary reward and gold medals for the crew, the RNLI presenting their silver medal to Coxswain Thomas Clarkson. Even the poet laureate wrote a special poem, 'The Warriors of the Sea', which appeared in the magazine, 'Punch'. (1)
The wreck of this lifeboat was discussed on the television programme 'Coast', broadcast on BBC2, 5th August 2005. (2)
Owner: Royal National Lifeboat Institution (1)
Crew: 16 (1)
Crew lost: 14 (1)
Date of Loss Qualifier: Actual date of loss
Additional sources cited in Shipwreck Index of the British Isles:
BOT Wk Rtn 1886 Appendix C table 1 p1165(931);
The Lythamers 1844-1986, J Kenny, 1986, p14-16;
Fatal Call of Running Tide, B Cockcroft, 1995, p23-4;
Blackpool Lifeboat, A Souvenir History, J P Morris, p7-9 |