The Wreck of the Mexico

This statue on the Promenade at St Anne’s is a memorial to the Lifeboat crew lost whilst trying to save the German Barque, Mexico in 1896. The Mexico was on its way from Liverpool to Ecuador when it was caught in a storm. Lifeboats were launched from Lytham, St Anne’s and Southport. The Lytham lifeboat rescued the twelve crew but both the St. Anne’s lifeboat and the Southport lifeboat were capsized, and 27 of the 29 crew were drowned.

This rescue remains the worst loss of crew in a single incident in RNLI history and was viewed as a national disaster.

The picture was taken whilst walking with friends this afternoon. Although there was a fair amount of cloud around, the weather remained dry until near the end of our walk. The heavens opened, and we got very wet in a very short time.