At noon this Christmas Eve at the end of the East Pier, Dun Laoghaire RNLI volunteers will gather to lay wreaths at sea and remember 15 of their lifeboat colleagues who were lost while in service in 1895.
The annual ceremony which has become a Christmas Eve tradition for many, will also remember all those who have drowned around the coast, in rivers, inland waters and abroad in the last year.
The short ceremony takes place under the lighthouse at the end of the East Pier.
It includes an ecumenical blessing, a reading from a news article published at the time and music.
The ceremony will see lifeboat crew joined by members of the Dun Laoghaire Coast Guard and Civil Defence.
Both Dun Laoghaire RNLI’s inshore and all-weather lifeboats will launch, and the crew will lay wreaths off the east pier in view of the public.
On 24 December 1895, the Dun Laoghaire lifeboat, the Civil Service No. 1, was wrecked while proceeding to the assistance of the SS Palme of Finland.
The crew, 15 in total, were drowned.
The lifeboat capsized 600 yards from the distressed vessel and, although every effort was made to send help to the lifeboat and to the Palme, nothing could be done.
The second Dun Laoghaire lifeboat, Hannah Pickard, also launched but it too capsized under sail, fortunately all crew returned safely.
The Captain, his wife, child and 17 crew were eventually rescued on the 26 December by the SS Tearaght.
