The wreck of the ''Mexico'' killed 115 people off the coast of Long Island, New York, United States, on January 2, 1837. The casualties were mostly immigrants who froze to death not far from shore.
Daniel Melancthon Tredwell recalled "seeing the drowned and the frozen being brought from the beach in sleds and being placed in rows in John Lott's barn for the identification of the friends and relatives."
Eight were saved by the heroic effort of Raynor Smith and companions. The captain, Charles Winslow, saved himself, his sword and the ship's lockbox by jumping in Smith's boat and leaving the passengers behind to die.
The ''Mexico'' was a ship sailing from
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
. She was classed as a
barque
A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel with three or more mast (sailing), masts having the fore- and mainmasts Square rig, rigged square and only the mizzen (the aftmost mast) Fore-and-aft rig, rigged fore and aft. Som ...
and carried "300 tons burden."
Two months prior to the wreck of the ''Mexico'', "The ''
Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
'', inbound from Liverpool to New York, broke up in a gale on
Far Rockaway beach on the night of November 21 , 1836, with a loss of 77 lives."
The wreck of the ''Mexico'' and the failed search for survivors is subject of the
Walt Whitman
Walter Whitman (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among t ...
poem "
The Sleepers" in ''
Leaves of Grass
''Leaves of Grass'' is a poetry collection by American poet Walt Whitman. Though it was first published in 1855, Whitman spent most of his professional life writing and rewriting ''Leaves of Grass'', revising it multiple times until his death. Th ...
''.
In 1953,
Ruth Bader (later Ginsburg) published an article about the wrecks of the ''Bristol'' and ''Mexico''.
An obelisk marking the mass grave of the casualties of the wrecks of the ''Bristol'' and the ''Mexico'' stands in
Rockville Cemetery
Rockville Cemetery and Bristol and Mexico Monument is a historic cemetery located at Lynbrook in Nassau County, New York. The cemetery started as a small local burial ground in 1799. It subsequently came to be the final resting place of many ea ...
, formerly Old Sand Hill Cemetery, in
Rockville, Long Island. In 2018, a historical marker was placed near the site of the tragedy.
References
Further reading
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External links
LI Maritime Museum: ''Mexico'' (1837)Long Island South Shore and Lynbrook History: ''Water & Ice'' by Arthur S. Mattson (2009)The Sea Salt in Whitman's Poetry by Jeffrey Yang (''The New Yorker'', 2017)
{{coord missing, New York (state)
Maritime incidents in January 1837
January 1837 events
1837 in New York (state)
1837 disasters in the United States
Shipwrecks of the New York (state) coast
Irish emigrants to the United States