Waves of emotion set to music for lost Wexford lifeboatmen

The deaths at sea of nine Wexford lifeboatmen a century ago are commemorated by a concert this week says Jo Kerrigan

THE weather a century ago this week was similar to now: ferocious storms threatening the lives of sailors. On February 20, 1914, a Norwegian schooner, The Mexico, went aground off the Wexford coast. Despite the appalling conditions, the Fethard lifeboat put out to sea. But nine of the volunteers died, though many of The Mexico’s crew were saved.

In small coastal communities, such tragic losses are retold from generation to generation.