Lifeboat Monument, St Annes

In a severe gale on 9 December 1886, the Mexico, a German barque, was driven onto the Horse Bank, a sandbank off Ainsdale, near Southport. Three lifeboats were launched to come to her rescue: Laura Janet from St Annes, Eliza Fernley from Southport, and Charles Biggs from Lytham. The crew of the Mexico were rescued by the Lytham lifeboat, but the other two lifeboats capsized. All thirteen of the crew of the St Annes lifeboat were lost, and only two of the sixteen members of the Southport lifeboat crew survived. It was the worst disaster in the history of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. Following the disaster, John Unwin, the mayor of Southport, set up a Disaster Fund, which raised…

The monument is constructed in sandstone. It has an ashlar tapering plinth approximately 2 m square and 2 m high. On the plinth is a pedestal with the appearance of a rock, about 3 m high. Standing on the pedestal is a larger than life-size figure of a lifeboatman. The lifeboatman looks out to sea. On the south side of the monument is a panel inscribed with the names of those who were lost. Underneath the names is the following inscription: }}