GRACE DARLING

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23599, 8 September 1938, Page 5

GRACE DARLING

CENTENARY OF FAMOUS EXPLOIT A COURAGEOUS RESCUE One hundred years ago yesterday Grace Darling performed the marvellous feat of endurance and courage which enshrined her for ever in the hearts of British people. On September 7, 1838, she and her father rowed fully a mile from the Longstone lighthouse, on one of the Fame Islands, to the Barker Rocks through a raging storm to fescue the five survivors of the wreck of the steamer Forfarshire. The tremendous storm —said to be unparalleled on that coast —and exceptionally high tide had given much concern to the lighthouse occupants, William Darling, the keeper, his wife, and his daughter, Grace, aged 22. After several hours’ strenuous work in making secure all their belongings in and around the lower part of the building, father and daughter prepared to go to bed. It was 4 a.m, on September 7 when Grace Darling, wet through and tired out; climbed the' stair to her bedroom. Just before going to sleep she glanced out of the window and saw dimly the wreck of the Forfarshire on the Barker Rocks. About 7 a.m., when dawn was breaking, the occupants of the lighthouse saw through .a telescope signs of human movement on the reef immediately below the wreck. Although William Darling was a brave man, he hesitated about setting out in the raging sea to rescue the unfortunate people; Then his daughter threatened to make the venture single-handed if her father held back. Eventually the father was persuaded to make the journey. Battle Against Storm The small boat was launched in the tremendous sea, and almost immediately, as it seemed to the mother’s terrified gaze, was swallowed up in the mountainous breakers and foam. Battling against the furious gale, half-blinded by rain and spray, drenched, to the skin, and almost numbed with the cold, the daughter and father fought their way to the reef. Although it was only SOO yards from the lighthouse to the reef the little boat had to travel fully a mile before it could reach its objective. After fighting the tricky crosscurrents and avoiding the halfsubmerged rocks, the boat neared the survivors. It was seen that there were more alive than had been supposed. The small boat could accommodate only five, and it was feared that the surging crowd would rush the boat and swamp it. William Darling, however leapt on to the rock, leaving Grace to control the boat and keep it off the rocks. Be fought and mastered the frantic throng and selected the five who were to make the return journey. With this load the boat returned to the lighthouse, and while Mrs Darling and her daughter tended the sufferers another trip was made by the lighthouse keeper and the sailors to th'e storm-beaten rock, whence they brought back the other four survivors.

The harrowing journey had no immediate effect on Grace Darling However, a few years later she contracted a chill that turned to rapid consumption. She died on October 20. 1842, aged 26. A handsome monument was erected over her tomb in St. Aidan’s Churchyard, Bamburgh and on a tablet to her memory in St. Aidan’s Church are some lines written in her honour by Wordsworth.