{"id":12347,"date":"2025-06-17T11:55:29","date_gmt":"2025-06-17T11:55:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.wearedeeperblue.co.uk\/history-clone\/?p=12347"},"modified":"2025-12-12T10:45:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T10:45:10","slug":"the-old-lifeboat-house-in-lytham-st-annes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.wearedeeperblue.co.uk\/history-clone\/the-old-lifeboat-house-in-lytham-st-annes\/","title":{"rendered":"The Old Lifeboat House in Lytham St. Annes"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wpb-content-wrapper\"><p>[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=&#8221;&#8221;]<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"0\" data-end=\"447\">The Old Lifeboat House on Eastbank Road in Lytham St Annes, now marked by a blue plaque from the Lytham St Annes Civic Society, served as the town\u2019s lifeboat station from 1881 to 1925. During this time, 45 lives were saved from rescues launched from the station. It is most remembered as the base of the lifeboat <em data-start=\"331\" data-end=\"344\">Laura Janet<\/em>, which took part in one of the RNLI\u2019s most tragic rescues \u2014 the \u201cMexico\u201d disaster of 1886.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"449\" data-end=\"977\">On the night of 9 December 1886, the <em data-start=\"490\" data-end=\"503\">Laura Janet<\/em> was launched to assist the German barque <em data-start=\"545\" data-end=\"553\">Mexico<\/em>, which had run aground in the Ribble Estuary during a violent storm. Three lifeboats responded \u2014 from St Annes, Lytham, and Southport. While the Lytham crew succeeded in rescuing the <em data-start=\"749\" data-end=\"759\">Mexico\u2019s<\/em> sailors, the St Annes and Southport lifeboats both capsized in the heavy seas. All 13 crew members from the St Annes lifeboat and 14 from Southport were lost, making it the worst tragedy in RNLI history.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"979\" data-end=\"1258\">The disaster led to national fundraising efforts for the bereaved families, with street collections held across the country to support the lifeboatmen\u2019s dependents. The tragedy remains a defining event in the history of the town and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1260\" data-end=\"1304\">The blue plaque on the building reads:<\/p>\n<blockquote data-start=\"1305\" data-end=\"1502\">\n<p data-start=\"1307\" data-end=\"1502\"><strong><em data-start=\"1307\" data-end=\"1500\">\u201cSt. Annes Lifeboat House from 1881 to 1925. 45 lives saved from here. 13 crew were lost in the Mexico Disaster in 1886, an event which resulted in street collections nationally for R.N.L.I.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p data-start=\"1504\" data-end=\"1683\" data-is-last-node=\"\" data-is-only-node=\"\">Today, the former lifeboat house is used as an undertaker\u2019s premises, but the plaque serves as a permanent memorial to the bravery and sacrifice of the St Annes lifeboat crew.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-12348\" src=\"https:\/\/dev.wearedeeperblue.co.uk\/history-clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/St-Annes-Lifeboat-House-1000.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"1000\" height=\"948\" \/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-12351\" src=\"https:\/\/dev.wearedeeperblue.co.uk\/history-clone\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/The-Old-Lifeboat-House-1000.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"1000\" height=\"751\" \/>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The old Lifeboat House in Lytham St. Annes, marked by a blue plaque from the Lytham St. Annes Civic Society, which served as a lifeboat station from 1881 to 1925. It was the base for the &#8220;Laura Janet&#8221; lifeboat, which notably launched to assist the German barque &#8220;Mexico&#8221; in 1886. The &#8220;Mexico&#8221; disaster resulted in the loss of all 13 crew members from the St. Annes lifeboat and 14 from the Southport lifeboat, making it the RNLI&#8217;s worst loss of life in a single incident. The blue plaque commemorates the station&#8217;s history, highlighting the 45 lives saved from the house&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12349,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[398],"tags":[179,374,399],"class_list":["post-12347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-398","tag-landmarks","tag-blue-plaques","tag-399"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.8 (Yoast SEO v25.8) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Old Lifeboat House in Lytham: Story of the Mexico Tragedy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Explore the story of The Old Lifeboat House in Lytham, marked by a blue plaque honouring its lifesaving history and the crew lost during the Mexico disaster.\" 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