I'm half afraid I am using up too much space here.
Fethard Lifeboat Disaster.
On Friday February 20th., 1914 a Norwegian barque, 'The Mexico' went aground off the Keeragh Islands, off the Wexford coast.
Within a short time, the lifeboat from Fethard was at the scene.
As it tried to approach the stricken vessel, it was lashed by a mighty wave and smashed to pieces.
Nine of the fourteen crew members were swept to their deaths as their companions and the men from 'The Mexico' scrambled onto the nearby rocks.
As these thirteen men clung to the rocks, the lifeboat from Kilmore attempted a rescue but was driven back by the fierce gale.
So the men spent a dark and stormy night on those inhospitable rocks.
Next day, the steam tug "Wexford", towed the lifeboat from Rosslare Fort to the scene to join the Dunmore East lifeboat in a rescue attempt. However, the storm was so strong that all boats had to shelter in harbour.
Throughout Sunday, they could only watch as their fellow seamen clung to the rocks in a storm too fierce for lifeboats to sail.
On Monday, another attempt was made. Still, the lifeboats could not approach the rocks, but two men, Bill Duggan and Jim Wickham of the Rosslare Fort lifeboat, took a dinghy and ferried the survivors two at a time from their ice cold rocks.
The operation needed 6 trips in stormy seas to bring all to safety, but on the second of these, the dinghy was holed. For the remaining trips the sea was kept out by a loaf of bread wrapped in oilskins, plugged into the opening.
Many ballads were written of this sad disaster and heroic rescue, including the anonymous 'The Fethard Lifeboat Crew', containing the lines....
"The thunder roared, the lightning flashed, the seas like mountains ran,
But onward 'mid that tempestuous storm the lifeboat proudly came.
The signal which she flashed that night was the white o'er the green in view:
The signal which a sailor reads: 'I will not abandon you'.
As she neared the ill fated Mexico, oh heavens what a shock,
Their boat was dashed to pieces on the dreaded Keeragh Rock.
Oh God what a sensation, to behold those heroes brave,
Contending with the raging seas, their precious lives to save.
The crew of the gallant Mexico, though terror stricken too,
They rendered all assistance to the drowning lifeboat crew.
Five of those gallant heroes were all that could be found.
The other nine, by the Keeragh Rock, I'm sorry to say were drowned.
May God have mercy upon their souls, who gave their noble lives,
And heaven guard the helpless ones those heroes left behind."
The picture is unrelated.
