Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

The unique Tayleur Fund Medal awarded to Miss Mary Lannen, for her gallantry in rescuing three sailors from the wreck of the Kinsale at Waterford on 23 November 1872

Tayleur Fund Medal, silver, reverse inscribed ‘Presented to Mary Lannen. Broomhill for Distinguished Courage in saving life at the wreck of the Kinsale Waterford Novr. 1872. Lord Talbot de Malahide, Chairman’, with small ring suspension, edge bruising, very fine, and the only known Tayleur Fund Medal awarded to a woman £600-£800

On Friday 22 November 1872 the steamer SS Kinsale, 383 tons and owned by the Glasgow, Cork & Waterford Steam Navigation Co., departed Cork bound for Glasgow, carrying a cargo of agricultural produce, as well as 8 passengers, in addition to her crew of 20. During that night the weather deteriorated further, and the following afternoon the Captain decided to seek shelter in Waterford harbour- the navigation was well known to the crew as Waterford was on their regular three way route. As they entered the harbour at 4:00 p.m., ‘there was a sickening crash from below, as the Kinsale’s propeller shaft finally succumbed to the tons of pressure forced on it by the sea. The ship slowly dropped her forward momentum and wallowed in the heaving seas. The captain ordered his men to set the sails, and realising the dangers they rushed to their stations, but each time they tried to fix the canvas in place the sails were ripped away by the unrelenting gale. It was blowing from the SSW and added to their troubles darkness was coming on. Each sailor was soaked to the skin, freezing cold and acutely aware of their predicament as the seas and wind carried them relentlessly towards the Wexford shore. In desperation Captain Anderson ordered that the anchor be dropped and simultaneously he ordered the main mast to be cut away, in the hopes of easing the pressure on the anchor chain. Alas they were still chopping when the chain parted, and shortly afterwards the stern of the Kinsale struck the rocks.

They were aground under a steep cliff on the Wexford shoreline known locally as the “Hell Hole” at Broom Hill. Each surging sea shook the ship to her core and washed a mountainous sea over them and the cliff face. To stay aboard wasn’t an option, but the shore held no cover. In desperation many jumped more in helplessness than in hope, which others tried to negotiate ropes and fallen stays in the hope of reaching the rocks and a sheltered crevice. Many were washed away in those early minutes. Depending on where others made it ashore they faced a sheer cliff of rock or a wet and slippery vertical grassy climb, neither option was favourable, but it was better than the sea.

Locals ran to the scene in an attempt to give what assistance they could, but without the necessary equipment they could do little more that act as witnesses to the unfolding tragedy below them on the rocks. In the dark and fearsome gale, getting soaked by waves and sea spray they reached out with their bare hands and offered what rope they could find in an attempt to assist the people below. The local parish priest described it as follows: “The poor people of the locality; men, women, and children—risked their lives to save the ill-fated crew and passengers. The men were trying to fish them with whatever bits of rope they could find in the hurry of the moment, but they were found to be useless—too short and too rotten. Men and women leaned over the awful precipice, white with the foam, and drenched with the spray of the angry waves in hope of being able to save some of the sufferers at the manifest and imminent peril of their own lives.”

Three sailors managed to reach below the top of the cliff and found help in the hands of a local woman, Mary Lannen. She managed to get two over the edge, before being joined by a married couple, Margaret and John O’Shea, who helped to get the third man over. Meanwhile the coastguard arrived on the scene, but despite their efforts and equipment, only one other man made it to safety. He had a broken arm, but had managed to find shelter in a crevice, and reached the clifftop having been hauled up while he held on to a rope ladder.

The four men were reunited in Byrnes home where they were provided with every comfort. It was not until an officer of the Arthurstown Coastguard arrived to interview them that they learned that they were the sole survivors and that it was highly unlikely that any others had made it ashore, at least alive.’ (Waterford Harbour Tides and Tales by Andrew Doherty refers).

Approximately 3 gold and 47 silver Tayleur Fund Medals were awarded for eleven separate instances between 1861 and 1882.