Grace Darling Trad. Arr. casetone2514
Grace Darling (14th November, 1815 - 20th October, 1842)
A surprisingly little known heroine in her native England, Grace Darling was once one of the nations best known and well loved women. She was born in Bamburgh in Northumberland, and spent her childhood and later years in various lighthouses of which her father was keeper.
On the night of 7th September, 1838, Grace, looking from an upstairs window of The Longstone lighthouse on the Farne Islands, spotted the ship, run aground on the Hawkers Rocks only a few hundred yards away. The ship was the paddle-steamer The Forfarshire, bound from Hull to Dundee and, realising that the weather was too rough for the lifeboat to put out from the shore, Grace and her father took a rowing boat across to the other island and rescued the survivors, bringing them safely back to the lighthouse. The rescue lasted from 7am to 9am and was carried out in the most atrocious of weather conditions in an open rowing boat. 51 of the people on board the ship were lost and Grace and her father rescued the remaining nine. Despite the versions in verse and song, there is no evidence to suggest that William was reluctant to put to sea or that Grace had to persuade him.
To her dismay, she became quite a celebrity, and William and Grace Darling both received the Royal Humane Societys Gold medal and Grace (in an age when women were regarded as the weaker sex) was immortalized in song by Felix McGlennan, in verse by Alfred Lord Tennyson and had quadrilles waltzes and Gallops composed in her honour. She died at the age of 26 from tuberculosis and is buried at Bamburgh where a memorial to her can be seen by passing shipping.
Interestingly, another famed female lighthouse keeper (America's most famous) was Ida Lewis who also has a song written about her exploits.
She kept the Lime Rock Light after her father took ill following a stroke. From the age of 15 she took charge and looked after her disabled father, younger sister and the lighthouse. Ida was, officially, credited with 17 rescues though it may have been up to 25. Her first rescue (of 4 soldiers) was at the age of 16 and her last at the age of 63.
No American lighthouse has ever had it's name changed by the Lighthouse Service (part of the Coast Guard), except for the Lime Rock Light. It was renamed the Ida Lewis Light. After the Light was retired it was bought by the Newport Yacht Club, who renamed the club the Ida Lewis Yacht Club, and has been maintained by them ever since.
IDA LEWIS
1998 Barry Finn
Ida Lewis left Newport at the age of 15,
Moved onto Lime Light Rock in the 1850's
Her father was a captain, now keeper of the light
Soon the duties feel on Ida to keep the lamps burning bright.
Her sisters & brother she'd row to school every day
In a small open lifeboat across the rough bay
From his wheelchair her father would watch through the storms
In horror as Ida would row the children back home.
Renowned for her skills no matter the weather
At swimming or rowing no man was her better
At the age of 16 she had saved 4 mens' lives
By the time she retired she had saved 25
There are saints on the water & demons in the sea
One & all they praised Ida for her great bravery
On the very night this women died, who had lived on the shoals
Every bell on evry boat in Newport did toll
Now they've renamed that rock the Ida Lewis Rock Light
And in her honor today the lights are still burning bright
But sometimes at night when it's rough & it's cold
Some claim to see Ida pulling boys from the foam.