Memorial by Calf Sound, Isle of Man commemorating the wreck of the  brig ‘Lily’ in  1852

Location

Calf Sound, Isle of Man

Transcript

'BRIG LILY DISASTER MEMORIAL On On December 27th 1852, during a terrific storm, the battered English brig Lily bound from Liverpool to West Africa with a mixed cargo including sixty one tons of gunpowder was wrecked on Kitterland Islet on the opposite side of this narrow strait. Five members of her crew lost their lives and the surviving eight were rescued by a number of brave local men on two small boats, at the risk of their own lives. The following morning a party of thirty picked men were engaged in salvaging her cargo when the ship exploded killing twenty nine of them including seven of those who had rescued the crew. The sole survvor was terribly injured and the tragedy left twenty two widows and seventy four orphans. Four recognisable bodies and the remains of the other twenty five men are buried in a communial grave at Rushen Churchyard.'[verse]

Details

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