Thursday 24 November 2011

Warriors of the Sea

On December 9th it will be the 125th anniversary of the Mexico tragedy, when 27 RNLI volunteers from Southport and St Annes lost their lives trying to save the crew of the ship as it floundered off Formby sands.

The St Annes lifeboat – the Laura Jane- launched sometime after 9pm that night as did the Charles Biggs – the Lytham boat.

The official report at the time recorded a force 7 gale and “….the tide setting against the wind caused the sea to break heavily, rendering it extremely dangerous to boats."

The Charles Biggs managed to rescue the crew of the Mexico, the Laura Jane unfortunately never returned. The fate of the Southport boat the Eliza Fearnley was also cruel with only two of her crew surviving, the rest perished in the sea that night.

To this day it remains the worst RNLI disaster.

On the Fylde coast, our RNLI service has a proud tradition and history – they are part of the very fabric of the town, the crews are our neighbours and friends and because of their bravery and professionalism, sometimes people forget that they are all volunteers.

With the opening of the cockle beds in September, we are reminded just what a brilliant job they do and how selflessly they set out to sea to save those in distress.

You may have seen me and Katie Fieldhouse on the front of the Lytham St Annes Express this week as we are committed to helping to raise funds for the RNLI and I hope that you can help us with this task.

I asked for some help and ideas on my Facebook page a couple of weeks and was overwhelmed by the response from people wanting to help and offering support – thank you so much for your pledges and promises and I’d also like to thank Steve Singleton and the Lytham St Annes Express for their unstinting and generous support

A poem was written at the time of the Mexico tragedy and lest we forget why we are so indebted to our service I thought I’d include the last verse

Think of the sailors round our coasts who, braving sleet and snow,
Leave sweethearts, wives and little ones when duty bids them go.
Think of our sea-girt Island, a harbour where alone
No Englishman to save a life has failed to risk his own
Then when the storm howls loudest, pray of your charity
That God will bless the lifeboat, and the Warriors of the Sea.

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good work Paul its good to see that people are appreciating the brilliant work the RNLI have and are still doing for our community not to mention the great sacrifices they have made over the years and hope that you get fantastic support for the fundraiser.

Elaine Silverwood said...

Hi Paul and Team Rowley's! What a fabulous gesture to raise much needed funds for the RNLI. If you would like any signed copies of Sarah Brown, Sue Johnston or Victoria Hisplop's books to help raise money for this fantastic charity just let me know.

Best of luck!

Elaine, SilverDell Bookshop

Capital Cooking said...

I couldn't agree more, a great gesture.

Party Catering Newcastle said...

Thank you for your great inspiration of information
Party Catering Newcastle

Unknown said...

I truly like to reading your post. Thank you so much for taking the time to share such a nice information.
Catering

aProjekty said...

Poprzedni wpis bardziej mi się podobał.

Meble kuchenne na wymiar said...

Nice blog :)

Przeglądy budowlane said...

Myślę, że widziałem ciekawsze wpisy

Frezowanie korzeni said...

Pozostawie bez komentarza, ale z małym śladem, że mi się podoba:)

Blog moda said...

unikalna strona, sprawdź też moją!

Myjki wysokociśnieniowe said...

Mało ciekawy wpis, ale ok

Fotograf ślubny Olsztyn said...

Dzięki za ten wpis.

Capital Cooking said...

Thanks for sharing this.

Unknown said...

Hi, nice post. This is an interesting and very informative topic. Thanks for sharing your ideas, its not just entertaining but also gives your reader knowledge. Good blogs style too, Cheers!
Catering Natick MA

Porady psychologa przez internet said...

Trafnie.

Psychoterapia Poznań said...

Częściej powinny pojawiać się tak dobre wpisy:)

Dom we wrzosach said...

Pozostawie bez komentarza, ale z małym śladem, że mi się podoba:)

Unknown said...

nice post...
Modular kitchen in chennai
Modular kitchen chennai

john said...

If you are hungry and want food at discount the use the zomato referral code and get food at discount.

karthick said...

Nice blog with really interesting topic. Thanks for sharing the blog.
Interior Designers in Chennai
Interior Decorators in Chennai
Best Interior Designers in Chennai
Home Interior designers in Chennai
Modular Kitchen in Chennai

Anonymous said...



It’s awesome that you want to share those tips with us. It is a very useful post Keep it up and thanks to the writer.

corporate catering services in chennai
taste catering services in chennai
wedding catering services in chennai
birthday catering services in chennai

msbikerental said...

NICE POST!!!
bike hire in pondicherry
best bike rental in pondicherry
hire two wheeler in pondicherry
two wheeler rent in pondicherry

luckys said...

gta 5 apk
More than 160k women and men are losing weight with a simple and SECRET "water hack" to lose 2 lbs each and every night as they sleep.

QuickBooks Support said...

Nice Blog !
Our team at QuickBooks Customer Service works hard day and night to ensure maximum and utmost customer satisfaction in the most stressful times.