The Kingstown Lifeboat Disaster occurred on Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve refers to the evening or entire day preceding Christmas Day, a widely celebrated festival commemorating the birth of Jesus of Nazareth that takes place on December 25...

 1895 off Kingstown (now Dún Laoghaire

Dún Laoghaire

Dún Laoghaire or Dún Laoire , sometimes anglicised as "Dunleary" , is a suburban seaside town in County Dublin, Ireland, about twelve kilometres south of Dublin city centre. It is the county town of Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County and a major port of entry from Great Britain...

), Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

, when the Kingstown Lifeboat

Lifeboat (rescue)

A rescue lifeboat is a boat rescue craft which is used to attend a vessel in distress, or its survivors, to rescue crewmen and passengers. It can be hand pulled, sail powered or powered by an engine...

 was capsize

Capsize

Capsizing is an act of tipping over a boat or ship to disable it. The act of reversing a capsized vessel is called righting.If a capsized vessel has sufficient flotation to prevent sinking, it may recover on its own if the stability is such that it is not stable inverted...

d while attempting to rescue the crew of the stricken SS Palme. The crew of fifteen were lost. This sad event is commemorated annually at Dun Laoghaire Harbour.

The SS Palme

The SS Palme, a 1,114 ton barque

Barque

A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts.- History of the term :The word barque appears to have come from the Greek word baris, a term for an Egyptian boat. This entered Latin as barca, which gave rise to the Italian barca, Spanish barco, and the French barge and...

, was owned by the Erikson family of Mariehamn

Mariehamn

Mariehamn is the capital of Åland, an autonomous territory under Finnish sovereignty. Mariehamn is the seat of the Government and Parliament of Åland, and 40% of the population of Åland live in the city...

, Finland

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

, then part of the Russian Empire

Russian Empire

The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

. She sailed under the Russian flag of horizontal white, blue, and red. On 18 December she set sail from Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

 bound for South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

 to import hardwood

Hardwood

Hardwood is wood from angiosperm trees . It may also be used for those trees themselves: these are usually broad-leaved; in temperate and boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostly evergreen.Hardwood contrasts with softwood...

. She was commanded by Captain Wiren. He was accompanied by his wife and child. There was a crew of seventeen, three of whom spoke English.

Weather

A storm described as "the most severe of the century" developed. The Palme tried to seek shelter in Dublin Bay

Dublin Bay

Dublin Bay is a C-shaped inlet of the Irish Sea on the east coast of Ireland. The bay is about 10 kilometres wide along its north-south base, and 7 km in length to its apex at the centre of the city of Dublin; stretching from Howth Head in the north to Dalkey Point in the south...

, but was driven south-east. It was mid-winter and extremely cold. The sea was so heavy that waves were crashing over the light house at the end of the East Pier of Dún Laoghaire.
On Tuesday 24 December the Palme was seen dragging her anchor off Merrion strand

Sandymount Strand

Sandymount Strand is a large strand on the east coast of Ireland, adjacent to the village and suburb of Sandymount in Dublin. The strand, which is part of the South Bull, is a major component of the south side of Dublin Bay.Sandymount Strand is a popular place for locals to take a walk...

. The Palme was in danger of being smashed on the rocks. She fired distress rockets

Distress signal

A distress signal is an internationally recognized means for obtaining help. Distress signals take the form of or are commonly made by using radio signals, displaying a visually detected item or illumination, or making an audible sound, from a distance....

.

The Disaster

A new lifeboat, Civil Service Number Seven had recently been delivered to Kingstown (now Dún Laoghaire). Under Coxwain Alexander Williams it went to assist the Palme. As she approached the Palme, the crew lowered the sails and rowed. Then, in full public view, the lifeboat was raised by a mighty wave and then capsized.
Some of the lifeboat crew managed to climb onto the upturned hull. The crew of the Palme then tried to launch their longboat

Longboat

In the days of sailing ships, a vessel would carry several ship's boats for various uses. One would be a longboat, an open boat to be rowed by eight or ten oarsmen, two per thwart...

, in the hope of rescuing their rescuers. This longboat was smashed by the waves. The older lifeboat Hannah Pickard, under Coxswain Horner, then went to sea. She was also capsized. Fortunately she righted herself and her crew all got back on board. She was driven ashore at Vance’s Harbour, Blackrock. The Poolbeg

Poolbeg

Poolbeg Generating Station is a power station owned and operated by the Electricity Supply Board of the Republic of Ireland. There are two stations on the site, the older thermal station containing units 1, 2, and 3 and the combined cycle gas station containing units CG14, CG15 and ST16, which is...

 lifeboat, under Coxswain Captain Dalton, was also launched. She found conditions ‘impossible’ and had to turn back. Two tugs, Flying Sprite and Flying Swallow also tried and failed. All hope of rescuing the Palme was now abandoned. On Christmas Day

Christmas

Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...

, 25 December, crowds watched and prayed as the Palme was being broken by the gales. There was widespread public and press interest.

Rescue

On St. Stephen's Day

St. Stephen's Day

St. Stephen's Day, or the Feast of St. Stephen, is a Christian saint's day celebrated on 26 December in the Western Church and 27 December in the Eastern Church. Many Eastern Orthodox churches adhere to the Julian calendar and mark St. Stephen's Day on 27 December according to that calendar, which...

 26 December, the Irish Lights

Commissioners of Irish Lights

The Commissioners of Irish Lights is the body that serves as the lighthouse authority for Ireland plus its adjacent seas and islands...

 steamer

Steamboat

A steamboat or steamship, sometimes called a steamer, is a ship in which the primary method of propulsion is steam power, typically driving propellers or paddlewheels...

 Tearaght under Captain McCombie managed to reach the Palme and rescue all twenty on board. In addition, they rescued the ship’s cat

Cat

The cat , also known as the domestic cat or housecat to distinguish it from other felids and felines, is a small, usually furry, domesticated, carnivorous mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and for its ability to hunt vermin and household pests...

. By then eight bodies of the lifeboat men had been recovered. In time, all fifteen bodies were found.

Aftermath

The funeral

Funeral

A funeral is a ceremony for celebrating, sanctifying, or remembering the life of a person who has died. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember the dead, from interment itself, to various monuments, prayers, and rituals undertaken in their honor...

 was the largest seen in Dun Laoghaire. Flag

Flag

A flag is a piece of fabric with a distinctive design that is usually rectangular and used as a symbol, as a signaling device, or decoration. The term flag is also used to refer to the graphic design employed by a flag, or to its depiction in another medium.The first flags were used to assist...

s were lowered

Half-staff

Half-staff is the American term for to describe a flag flying a flag below the summit of the flagpole . The rest of the English-speaking world uses the term half-mast. Technically the flag should be flown one breadth lower to allow for the invisible flag of death...

 in all Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

an port

Port

A port is a location on a coast or shore containing one or more harbors where ships can dock and transfer people or cargo to or from land....

s. All fifteen were buried

Burial

Burial is the act of placing a person or object into the ground. This is accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing an object in it, and covering it over.-History:...

 together in Deans Grange Cemetery

Deans Grange Cemetery

Deans Grange Cemetery, or more commonly known today as Deansgrange Cemetery, is situated in the suburban area of Deansgrange in the Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown part of the former County Dublin, Ireland. Since it first opened in 1865, over 150,000 people have been buried there...

. A fund was raised to support their dependents. There were donation

Donation

A donation is a gift given by physical or legal persons, typically for charitable purposes and/or to benefit a cause. A donation may take various forms, including cash, services, new or used goods including clothing, toys, food, and vehicles...

s from the ship’s owners in Finland and from ‘the people of Russia’. There is a plaque

Commemorative plaque

A commemorative plaque, or simply plaque, is a plate of metal, ceramic, stone, wood, or other material, typically attached to a wall, stone, or other vertical surface, and bearing text in memory of an important figure or event...

 on the old lifeboat station wall and a granite memorial

Memorial

A memorial is an object which serves as a focus for memory of something, usually a person or an event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects or art objects such as sculptures, statues or fountains, and even entire parks....

. Every year this sad event is remembered. At noon every Christmas Eve there is a progress along the East Pier, led by a piper

Bagpipes

Bagpipes are a class of musical instrument, aerophones, using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. Though the Scottish Great Highland Bagpipe and Irish uilleann pipes have the greatest international visibility, bagpipes of many different types come from...

. A short service is then held.

Crew

• Coxswain Alexander Williams, age 35, married with 6 children
• Henry Williams (his father and ex-coxswain), age 60, married with 3 sons (including Alexander)
• John Baker, age 33 married with 3 children.
• John Bartley, aged 45, married with two children.
• Edward Crowe, age 30, married no children.
• Thomas Dunphy, age 31, married 3 children.
• William Dunphy (his brother), age 40 married with 6 children.
• Francis McDonald, his son was born to his widow early in 1896.
• Edward Murphy, age 30, married with 3 children.
• Patrick Power, age 22, single.
• James Ryan, age 24, single.
• George Sanders, age 30, married no children.
• Francis Saunders (his brother), age 27, married with 5 children.
• Edward Shannon, age 28, married with 4 children.
• Henry Underhill, age 32 years, married, no children.