Over the years, a number of ships have foundered off Southport. For the purposes of this article, the Southport area shall be considered as Southwards from Lytham St Annes to Freshfield.
The German barque Star of Hope was on a voyage from Wilmington, North Carolina to Liverpool, carrying a cargo of cotton. It was caught in a Force 10 gale in the Mersey approaches. The ship was reported to be in distress and it was later reported that her nine crew were safe on the Crosby lightship. [1]
The German barque Mexico ran aground near Taggs-Island off Birkdale on 9 December 1886. The crew of twelve were saved by the Lytham lifeboat Charles Biggs, but the Southport and St. Annes lifeboats both capsized, with 27 of the 29 crew being killed. [2] The Mexico came ashore off Birkdale , opposite the Birkdale Palace Hotel . [3]
An American sail-steamer of 2,372 GRT, [4] SS Zealandia was on a voyage from New York to Liverpool with a cargo of mugs, sheep and treacle when she ran aground on the Horsebank on 2 April 1917. [5]
The SS Chrysopolis ran aground on the Spencers Bank in fog on 14 February 1918. She was on a voyage from Genoa to Liverpool with a cargo of copper ore. During attempts to refloat her using two tugs, her back was broken and she became a total loss. A gale sprang up, resulting in her 38 crew and a further four salvors being rescued by the Southport lifeboat. [6]
The steam trawler Endymion was being towed from Fleetwood to Preston when she broke free of her tow and grounded on the Horsebank on 31 July 1933. Salvage attempts failed and she was used for target practice during the Second World War. [7]
The Blue Star Line's refrigerated cargo ship SS Ionic Star of 5,594 GRT, [8] was inbound to Liverpool from Rio de Janeiro and Santos with a cargo of cotton, fruit and meat. On 16 October 1939, she ran aground on Mad Wharf, about a mile west of Formby Point. Although her cargo was salvaged, the ship was declared a total loss. A contract was let for her salvage, but the position of the ship made this too difficult to achieve and she was later used for target practice during the Second World War. [9]
The 434 GRT Liverpool Pilot SS Charles Livingston came ashore at Ainsdale on 25 November 1939 in a gale. Lifeboats from Lytham and Blackpool were launched, with the Blackpool lifeboat Sarah Ann Austin rescuing six crew., Four others reached the shore. A further 23 crew were killed. The vessel had misreported her position as between the Bar lightship and Great Orme Head, leading to lifeboats from Hoylake, New Brighton and Rhyl being launched. Two silver and two bronze medals were awarded by the RNLI for this rescue. [10]
The 8,183 GRT Henderson Line liner SS Pegu ran aground in the Crosby Channel on 24 November 1939 due to buoy lights being extinguished as a wartime measure. [11] The New Brighton lifeboat rescued her 103 crew but it proved impossible to refloat Pegu. [12]
The schooner Happy Harry was wrecked on 15 September 1950 against Southport Pier. She had grounded on Taylor's Bank and her crew were rescued by lifeboat. Happy Harry was refloated and sailed to Southport where she was anchored, but she later dragged her anchor and crashed into the pier. Southport Corporation wanted the ship removed, and she was dragged away from the pier and burnt. [13]
The Southport and St Anne's lifeboats disaster, commonly known as the Mexico disaster after the German barque, Mexico was wrecked on the evening of the 9th December 1886. In all, 27 lifeboat men lost their lives trying to save the crew of the ship.
SS Suevic was a steamship built by Harland and Wolff in Belfast for the White Star Line. Suevic was the fifth and last of the Jubilee-class ocean liners, built specifically to service the Liverpool-Cape Town-Sydney route, along with her sister ship Runic. In 1907 she was wrecked off the south coast of England, but in the largest rescue of its kind, all passengers and crew were saved. The ship herself was deliberately broken in two, and a new bow was attached to the salvaged stern portion. Later serving as a Norwegian whaling factory ship carrying the name Skytteren, she was scuttled off the Swedish coast in 1942 to prevent her capture by ships of Nazi Germany.
Riverdance was a roll-on/roll-off ferry in service with Seatruck Ferries on the Irish Sea. On 31 January 2008 she was hit by a wave that caused her cargo to shift and she beached at Blackpool, very close to the boundary with Cleveleys. Large amounts of the ship's cargo was spilled overboard after the ship ran aground, resulting in much of it being salvaged by members of the public. Attempts to refloat her failed, and she was scrapped on site during 2008.
Blackpool and the Fylde coast have become a ship graveyard for a number of vessels over the years. Most of the shipwrecks occurred at or near Blackpool, whilst a few happened a little further afield but have strong connections with the Blackpool area. For this article, Blackpool means the stretch of coast from Fleetwood to Lytham St Annes.
The Lifeboat Memorial, Southport, occupies a central position in Southport Cemetery, Cemetery Road, Southport, Merseyside, England. It commemorates the death of 27 lifeboatmen from Southport and St Annes who were lost in the attempt to rescue the crew of the German barque Mexico that had been driven into a sandbank in a gale in 1886. The memorial is in the form of a tomb chest on a tall plinth with carving and inscribed panels. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building.
The Monumental Obelisk, Southport, stands on the Promenade in Southport. Merseyside, England. It commemorates a number of events, mainly relating to the work of the Southport lifeboats, and in particular the loss of fourteen lifeboatmen when their boat capsized in 1886. The monument was designed by Thomas Robinson, and is constructed in granite. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building.
The Lifeboat Monument, St Annes, stands on South Promenade, St Annes, Fylde, Lancashire, England. It commemorates the death of 13 lifeboatmen from St Annes who were lost in the attempt to rescue the crew of the German barque Mexico that had been driven into a sandbank in a gale in December 1886. The lifeboat from Southport also lost 14 of its 16 man crew in the disaster. The monument depicts a lifeboatman looking out to sea and standing on a rock-like plinth. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building.
SS Stolwijk, a Dutch cargo ship of 2,489 tons, was wrecked off the coast of County Donegal, Ireland on 6 December 1940. She was part of a Convoy SC 13 sailing from the Dominion of Newfoundland to Liverpool, England, when her rudder was damaged in a fierce storm. Attempts to rescue her by her destroyer escort failed and she went on the rocks off Tory Island, County Donegal, Ireland. Ten of her crew were lost but the remaining 18 were rescued the following day by Arranmore Lifeboat and landed safely in Burtonport. The rescue of the survivors was conducted in terrible weather conditions and both the RNLI and Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands awarded medals to the Irish lifeboat crew.
SS Sagaing was a British passenger and cargo steamship that was launched in Scotland in 1924. Her peacetime route was a scheduled service between Glasgow or Liverpool, and Rangoon. In 1942, Japanese aircraft damaged her in Trincomalee Harbour in the Easter Sunday Raid on Ceylon. In 1943 she was scuttled to form a pier. In 2018 her wreck was raised, removed from the harbour, and scuttled in deeper water.
Birkdale, a steel, steam-powered barque, is best known for being the inspiration behind many paintings by John Everett. Everett joined the barque Birkdale in 1920 and on a short voyage drew and painted many drawings and paintings, most of which are hung in the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich. She was the last barque to fly the red ensign, and she spent almost all her working life carrying nitrate from Chile. In June 1927, Birkdale ran aground and wrecked after catching fire in the Nelson Strait while en route to Peru.
FV Commandant Bultinck was a Belgian trawler that ran aground in a storm off Fleetwood, Lancashire, United Kingdom on 2 October 1929.
Southport Lifeboat Station is a former lifeboat station, located in the Victorian seaside town of Southport, situated to the south of the River Ribble estuary, historically in the county of Lancashire, now Merseyside.
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