Fethard Lifeboat Station

Fethard Lifeboat Station
Fethard Lifeboat Station
	Flag of the RNLI
	Fethard lifeboat station in 2006
	Map of Ireland showing Fethard-on-Sea
General information
Type	Lifeboat station
Location	Fethard-on-Sea
Country	Ireland
Coordinates	52°11′16″N 6°50′18″W / 52.1877°N 6.8382°W
Opened	First lifeboat 1886; Current building 2002
Owner	RNLI
Website
	RNLI: Fethard Lifeboat Station

Fethard Lifeboat Station is the base for a Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) inshore lifeboat at Fethard-on-Sea on the south coast of County Wexford, Ireland.

The RNLI first stationed a lifeboat at Fethard in 1886. The station had been scheduled for closure in 1914, when it was decided to place a motor-powered lifeboat at Dunmore East, but the station was closed prematurely, after nine of the 14 crew lost their lives during the rescue of the crew of the schooner Mexico.

A station was re-established at Fethard, when an inshore lifeboat was placed there in 1996.^[1]

First station

Ever since its founding in 1824, the Royal National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck (RNIPLS), later to become the RNLI in 1854, would award medals for deeds of gallantry at sea, even if no lifeboats were involved. On 15 December 1848, the Emalia was wrecked at Bannow Bay, County Wexford, whilst on passage from Istanbul to Liverpool. 14 crew were lost, but four were saved, thanks to the actions of H.M. Coastguard boatman Robin Gleeson, who was later awarded the RNIPLS Silver Medal.^[2]^[3]

Following this tragedy, the Rev. Perceval Banks Weldon, Rector of Fethard, made a request to the RNIPLS in 1849, for the placement of a lifeboat at Fethard, but the Institution was in a period of decline at that time, and funds were not available.^[4]

It was 35 years later, in 1884, that it was decided to establish a lifeboat station at Fethard, on the east side of the Hook peninsula, and to close the existing station at Duncannon, located on the west side of the peninsula. This was brought about when another new station was opened in 1884 at Dunmore East, located on the opposite side of the River Suir estuary from Duncannon, but far closer to the open sea.^[5]

A boathouse, costing £603, was constructed on Quay Road, which leads down the small peninsular from Fethard to Fethard Quay and Ingard Point. A 34-foot Self-righting 'Pulling and Sailing' (P&S) lifeboat, one with oars and sails, along with its launch carriage, was transported from Bristol to Waterford by the Waterford Steamship Company free of charge, arriving at Fethard in July 1886. The bequest of the late Helen Blake of Handcross House, Sussex, received through Her Majesty’s Treasury, covered the entire cost of the station, lifeboat and equipment, and the lifeboat was duly named Helen Blake (ON 100).^[6]^[7]

Helen Blake

Helen Blake (née Sheridan) of Handcross House, Sussex, was the wife of Peninsular War veteran General Robert Dudley Blake, and inherited his estate on his death in 1850. She then inherited the entire estate of his brother, Sir Francis Blake. When Helen died aged 76 in 1876, she died intestate, and with no children or heirs - their one child had died in infancy - the entire fortune, worth around £120,000, was seized by The Crown.

Helen had actually made a will, with specific legacies of £19,400, but the will was never signed. Despite this, HM Treasury, who are responsible for the distribution of all assets left by a intestate person, decided to honour most of the specific bequests. This included £6,400 to the RNLI, to purchase two lifeboats, to be placed at stations in Ireland. Two trust funds were set up, the Blake Lifeboat Maintenance Fund and the Blake Lifeboat Reward Fund. In all, the funds provided or maintained six lifeboats:^[8]^[9]

General R. Dudley Blake (ON 95), Blackrock, (1885–1909)
Helen Blake (ON 100), Fethard, (1886–1897)
Helen Blake (ON 301), Fethard, (1897–1905)
Helen Blake (ON 546), Fethard, (1905–1914)
General R. Dudley Blake (ON 593), Blackrock, (1909–1935)
Helen Blake (ON 809), Poolbeg, (1938–1959)

Fethard lifeboat disaster

The Norwegian schooner Mexico got into difficulties during a gale on the afternoon of Friday 20 February 1914. It had a crew of ten and was carrying a cargo of mahogany from South America to Liverpool but ran aground on South Keeragh Island. The Fethard lifeboat launched to rescue the crew from the Mexico. The lifeboat was about 50 yd (46 m) from the wreck when a large wave swamped it and it too was driven against the rocks.

Nine of the lifeboat's crew were drowned (Coxswain Christopher Bird, Bowman Thomas Hendrick, William Bird, William Banville, Patrick Cullen, Michael Hendrick, James Morrissey, Patrick Roche, Patrick Stafford) but five managed to get onto the island. Two of the schooner's crew had managed to get ashore in the ship's boat but the lifeboat crew managed to bring the remaining eight people onto the island but now the survivors of the two crews were marooned. Lifeboats from Dunmore East, Kilmore and Wexford all came to help rescue them but the sea conditions meant they were unable to reach the island. The Chief Inspector of Lifeboats arrived from London on Sunday afternoon and went out with the Dunmore East lifeboat to make another attempt but was still unable to reach the stranded men.

Another attempt was made early on Monday morning. The Kilmore lifeboat had returned to its station but the Dunmore East lifeboat had stayed at Fethard and the other lifeboat remained in Waterford Harbour with the steam tug that had towed it from Wexford. The lifeboats could not land on the island but a line was got across on which two of the survivors could were guided about 100 yd (91 m) through the water to the Dunmore East lifeboat. James Wickham and William Duggan form the Wexford crew used a skiff from the tug to reach the island and rescue the others, two at a time. On the second trip to the island the skiff hit the rocks but the hole in the boat was stopped up by a loaf of bread that was wrapped in oilskins.

As well as the nine lifeboat volunteers that drowned, one man from the Mexico died of exposure on the island. The others survived two nights outside in the storm with no shelter. They had no water, just a little brandy and wine which had been saved from the ship; the only food was two tins of meat and a few limpets.

The survivors of the Fethard lifeboat crew were awarded silver medals by the King of Norway.^[10]^[11]

The RNLI had already decided in 1913 to close Fethard when a motor lifeboat could be provided for Dunmore East. Its closure was confirmed just two months after the lifeboat disaster.^[12]^[13]

Inshore lifeboat station

On 28 June 1995, a meeting of the Executive Committee of the RNLI resolved to re-establish a lifeboat station at Fethard. The original 1886 boathouse was initially refurbished to accommodate the boat, and the Landrover used for launching, and with crew training completed, the D-class (EA16) Inshore lifeboat Axa Life Inshorer (D-445) was placed at the station on 10 July 1996.^[1]

New temporary facilities were opened in January 1999. A bungalow was then purchased in Fethard village, and converted into a lifeboat station, ready for use by 2002. The station is unusual, as it doesn't sit by the water like most lifeboat stations, but the station is ideally situated for the lifeboat to be transported quickly and easily to various points around the Hook Peninsula for launching.^[1]^[14]

Area of operation

The inshore lifeboat at Fethard has a range of 3 hours and top speed of 25 kn (46 km/h).^[15] Adjacent stations with all-weather lifeboats are at Kilmore Quay to the east and Dunmore East to the west.^[16]