FOE the past sixty-six years the Institu- tion has maintained a Life-boat Station at Wexford, at the south-eastern corner of Ireland. It has been one of the most important Stations on the coasts of Great Britain and Ireland, for it has protected not only the fishing-boats from Wexford Harbour, which has a very difficult bar, but the very large amount of both coastal and deep-sea traffic entering and leaving the Irish Sea, aduty which it has shared with Fish- guard, lying almost directly opposite, on the Welsh coast.

The Station was situated on Rosslare Point, a promontory or spit, several miles long, which forms a natural breakwater to Wexford Harbour. At the end of this promontory, on what is known as the Fort, were the Life-boat Station and the cottages of the Coxswain and Crew. It was a permanent, paid Crew, but the members of it also engaged in fishing, while the Coxswain, Edward Wickham, was a Pilot, and he and his brother, the Second Coxswain, James Wickham, carried on a boat-repairing business, and owned the land on which the Life-boat Station stood.

Now the Station has had to be abandoned, as the greater part of the spit between the Fort and the mainland has been breached by the sea.

On the morning of 27th December a very severe gale from the south-west swept across Rosslare Point. It was accompanied by extraordinarily" high tides, and the sea cut three big gaps in the spit. Four days later another gale increased the gaps, the smallest being then 85 yards, the largest 380 yards.

This was followed by yet another gale less than a fortnight later. What happened then is best described in the words of the Deputy-Chief Inspector of Life-boats, who arrived at the Station on 16th January.

" On Sunday, llth January, a strong wind from the south-south-west widened considerably one of the breaches. OnMonday there was a light south-west wind until 5 P.M., when it increased to a strong gale from the south with violent squalls. At 11 P.M. on the 12th, Cox- swain Wickham estimated the velocity of the gale as sixty miles an hour, and he describes the sea as very heavy, but not more so than is to be expected at this time of the year. This state of affairs continued until the evening of the 13th. During the forenoon of this day the wind was blowing with hurricane force, and the spit was literally visibly dwindling, the sea destroying huts, telegraph posts, and everything it touched like matchwood. The situa- tion was, as may be imagined, very alarming, and Coxswain Wickham exer- cised good judgment in deciding to evacuate women and children the moment wind and sea took off. The Life-boat was lying afloat, but it would have been impossible to board her on the 12th and 13th. Further, the Coxswain's large motor-boat—a converted Life-boat —carried away her moorings, and drifted out to sea under his eyes, finally strand-ing on the north shore, where she now lies.

" Most of the women and children were, therefore, landed on the 14th, and found temporary lodgings in Wexford itself. Since then the Life-boat has been continually employed landing their effects. . . . Two of the breaches are now one continuous breach completely covered at high water, and between it and the third breach there is now only a small strip of sand about 10 yards wide.

This will doubtless go shortly. . . .

Three huts belonging to the Coxswain have disappeared. One of these, that lying on the inner side of the spit, has been sanded over, so that I was actually standing on the roof without being aware of it until the Coxswain pointed out to me a few inches of gable protruding from the sand. The Institution's trolley- way has been obliterated, but the trolley remains unscathed. The capstan, em- bedded in concrete, has been carried away and lies on its side. It may be said that a large part has been carried bodily into the harbour ; the Fort alone stands, more or less unscathed, but a tiny island. This is a tribute, at any rate, to the defensive work undertaken by the Institution in the past few years." As a result of this report the Com- mittee of Management immediately increased the pay of the homeless Crew, as a temporary measure to help them in their distress.

After the first gale the Station had been visited by the District Inspector of Life-boats and, as a result of his report, the Engineers of the Institution went across after the second gale. Ifc was then clear that another gale would probably sweep away the greater part of the spit, and when this actually happened all hope of maintaining the Station was given up. Members of the Committee of Management, with the Chief Inspector of Life-boats and other officials, visited the Station at the begin- ning of March to decide what steps should be taken. They were much im- pressed by the fortitude shown by the Coxswain and Second Coxswain, who have been connected with the Station for many years. " They have seen their property, on which they were born and hoped to end their days, destroyed and their industries terminated. They said little of this, but their great regret seems to be that the Life-boat should have to leave what they considered an ideal station close to the bar, with the Crew always at hand, and ready for service ; and their great hope is that it may be possible to establish her again in a good site under conditions of the utmost efficiency." The Committee of Management have now decided to transfer the Station to Rosslare Harbour—where a Life-boat was stationed in 1896, but withdrawn in 1921, when the Motor Life-boat went to Wexford—if this can be satisfactorily arranged with the railway companies controlling the Harbour. Here the Station will be as well situated as on Rosslare Point for the outside sea service. It is, however, five miles from Wexford Harbour Bar, where many wrecks occur. In the last fifteen years there have been twenty-six within a radius of three miles of the old Station, which, but for the prompt help of the Life-boat, might have led to the loss of over 100 lives. To meet this difficulty the present Wexford Life-boat, which is an open Motor Boat of the Watson type, 45 feet long, will be replaced by one of the newest Watson Cabin Motor Life-boats, so that when bad weather sets in, and the fishing fleet is at sea, the Boat can cruise outside the bar until the fleet is safely in harbour. It will, at the same time, be necessary to provide either a short-range wireless at Rosslare, or other signalling facilities, so that when cruising the Life-boat may be informed at once of any outlying ship in distiess. By these means it should be made possible for the new Station at Rosslare Harbour to fulfil all the duties of the old Wexford Station on Rosslare Point. Until these arrangements have been made the present Motor Life-boat will remain in Wexford Harbour.

The Record of the Wexford Station.

In 1859 two Stations were established at Wexford, one of them being known at first as Rosslare Fort, and later as Wexford No. 2. This Station was closed in 1897. Its record was fifty-seven launches, 200 lives rescued from ship- wreck, and four boats and vessels saved from destruction. The Wexford Sta- tion, now closed, has the record of 164 launches, 333 lives rescued, and twenty- one boats and vessels saved from destruction. Altogether Wexford has the distinguished record of 533 lives saved in sixty-six years. During that time seven (Silver Medals have been awarded. The first was awarded to [Coxswain Marcus Boyle in 1878, when the Wexford Life-boat rescued the ! passengers—f our men, eight women and six children—from the s.s. Montagu, of [Liverpool, which had run ashore in a | high sea. On his .retirement Coxswain I Boyle received a Clasp to his Medal.

In the services from then onwards for which Medals were given, one or ; more members of the Wickham family (took part. Out of the seven Medals I awarded to Wexford Life-boatmen, they j have won four, and for more than two- ! thirds of the Station's existence they have been prominently associated witi it. This is their record : Thomas Wickham, appointed Second Coxswain in 1881, and Coxswain in 1884, a post which he held until he retired in 1899. Awarded the Silver Medal in 1896 for the service to the yawl Annie.

Edward Wickham, the present Cox- swain, appointed Second Coxswain in 1886, and Coxswain in 1899, on the re- tirement of Thomas Wickham. Awarded the Silver Medal in 1906 for the ser- vice to the yawl Puffin, of Wexford ; Clasp to his Medal for the service in 1914 to the s.s. Mexico and the Fethard Life-boat, and a Silver Medal from the King of Norway for the same service.James Wickham, the present Second Coxswain, appointed in 1899, when Edward Wickham was promoted to Coxswain. Awarded the Silver Medal for the service in 1914 to the s.s. Mexico and the Fethard Life-boat, and a Silver Medal from the King of Norway.

Edward Wickham will remain as Cox- swain until the new Station is established at Eosslare Harbour, but he wishes then to retire, and he will be succeeded by his brother, James Wickham.

In the sixty-six years of the Station's existence the outstanding service was that in 1914 to the Norwegian steamer Mexico, and the Fethard Life-boat which! was wrecked when going to the steamer's help.

On Friday, 20th February of that I year, the Mexico, bound from South i America to Liverpool, lost her bearings ! in a gale from the south-south-west off I the south of Ireland, and was driven I ashore on a rocky island in Bannow Bay.

j The Fethard Life-boat was launched i in the afternoon to her help, but when j fifty yards away she was struck by a I succession of heavy waves and hurled against the rocks, where she was smashed ;to pieces. Of the fourteen men of her i crew, nine were washed away and drowned. The other five managed to scramble on to the island, where they at once set to work to succour the crew of the Mexico. Two of the crew had taken to the ship's boat, and were I washed ashore. The other eight were J got on to the island, and there they and the five Life-boatmen remained until the Monday morning, with no shelter from the gale, with no water to drink, and with no food except two small tins of preserved meat and a few limpets.

When the disaster to the Fethard Life-boat was known, the Life-boats at Dunmore East, Kilmore, and Wexford were called out, but in spite of repeated attempts on the Friday, the Saturday, and the Sunday, it was found impossible to help the castaway men.

Early on Monday morning a final attempt was made, by the Dunmore East and Wexford Life-boats under the command of the Chief Inspector of Life- boats, Commander Thomas Holmes, R.K, who had arrived from London the afternoon before. The sea had gone down during the night, and the Dunmore East Life-boat succeeded in getting a line and life-buoy ashore. By this means two of the men were dragged through the water to the Life-boat, but the rest hesitated to make the attempt.

Meanwhile the Wexford Life-boat had arrived, bringing with her a strong punt.

Two of her crew, James Wickham and William Duggan, worked the punt, which was veered down to the island and two men were dragged aboard her.

She was then hauled back to the Life- boat. Altogether it took four trips to rescue the ten survivors—one of the Mexico's crew had died during the night of cold and exposure—and on the second trip a hole was stove in the punt, but it was stopped with a loaf of bread and some packing, and the work went on until the last man was rescued, three nights and nearly three days after the Mexico was wrecked. Commander Holmes; Walter Pover, the Dunmore East Coxswain ; Edward Wickham, the Wexford Coxswain; and James Wick- ham and William Duggan, of Wexford, who had manned the punt, were awarded the Institution's Silver Medal.

These five, and the five survivors of the Fethard Crew, also received the Nor- wegian Silver Medal.

Such was the chief service performed by the Wexford Life-boat, and one of the longest and most gallant struggles to save life in the records of the Institu- tion.