souwester

The Times (London) 24th Feb. There are lengthy accounts of the rescue, but it includes this: The tug with the nine men on board and the body of the man who had died on the island arrived at Waterford at 4 o'clock. A great crowd assembled on the quays to welcome the rescuers

According to this pamphlet put together by the O'Rourke family, there were 10 crew on the Mexico including the captain. Two launched the schooner's lifeboat, and were swept away to the coast. One died on the island, and seven were rescued, and brought by the tug to Waterford, which matches the photo. The guy in the middle is presumably Captain Ole Edvin Eriksen, of Fredrikshald, Norway.

I come from Fethard, so was disappointed to see Fethard-on- Sea rather than the decidedly inland town from Ireland's largest inland county! Great image though!

Niall McAuley That pamphlet is obviously a lot clearer than the contemporary newspaper accounts I've read, one of which appeared before the men had been rescued and which was put together from telegrams. Another twist to the story came the following month. On 19th March it was reported WRECKBREAKERS' PERIL THREE MEN ISOLATED ON A ROCK Grave fears are felt in Wexford for the safety of three men who for over a week have been living on the Keeragh Rock, the scene of the wreck of the schooner Mexico and the Fethard lifeboat. The hull of the Mexico was purchased shortly after the wreck by Mr H Murphy. Last week he put off in a boat with two workmen with the object of breaking up the bull. They took with them a week's provisions and have since been living on the orck under canvas. Owing to the gale that has been blowing on the coastfor the past five days they have been unable to come ashore. Signals of distress have been flying since Saturday, but the high seas have so far made it impossible for boats to put out to rescue them from their perilous position. I don't know what happened to Mr Murphy and his men. Perhaps they're still there.

Patrick Mc Donnell I read somewhere that some donations following the disaster were sent to the wrong Fethard, so they added 'on-Sea' to prevent any further misunderstandings.

24 February 1914 was a Tuesday ...

Related to this one: After the Fethard Lifeboat Disaster.

Oh dear! Disaster KLAXON ! ... www.independent.ie/regionals/goreyguardian/news/they-said...

Fethard Lifeboat Crew - Christopher Bird (Cox), John McNamra (2nd Cox), Thomas Handrick (Bowman), William Bird, James Morrissey, Michael Handrick, Patrick Butler, William Bandville, Patrick Roche, George Crompton. Richard Bird, Garrett Handrick, John Kelly, Patrick Cullen. From - www.mariner.ie/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Fethard-Lifeboa... p.16

The five surviving lifeboat crew were later given medals by the King of Norway, and the RNLI.

a miner's candle spike, perhaps?

Dru Great suggestion, Dru! So the white tubey thing would be the candle itself? Slightly disappointed though, I hoped for something exotic...

He's holding two things, a candle spike and a folding ruler. The man at right of shot also has a ruler. You know the ones with brass hinges, like this:

The guy with the galoshes is definitely not a labourer - look at that starched collar and the very clean overalls!

The guy you've tagged as Mr Jackson also appears in the image