Grace Darling, Heroine of the Farne Islands

This image of Grace Darling is from the book “Grace Darling; Or, the Heroine of the Fern Islands” by George William MacArthur Reynolds, published in 1839. The inscription reads: “Mr. Darling & his Daughter rowing to the wreck.” This book details the heroism of Grace Darling, who saved nine crew members from death after the Forfarshire schooner wrecked off the Farne Islands. 

Years later, when Lyon is making his way to Scotland from a visit to England, he aligned with another public figure: Grace Darling (1815-1842).

On the 7th of September, 1838, the Forfarshire schooner encountered chaos and calamity. At 4 AM, while trying to persevere through the darkness and make it to the Longstone lighthouse near Inner Farne, the schooner struck the Big Harcar Rock. The Forfarshire lurched against the deadly rock, breaking in two and sending most of the vessel's passengers and cargo to a cold and watery grave.

At the lighthouse, Grace Darling, daughter of the lighthouse keeper, saw the dark shapes meet in the shipwreck. She pleaded with her father, William Darling, to embark on a perilous mile-long journey to the wreck to check for survivors. The sea was too rough for a lifeboat. Left with a twenty-foot coble, Grace and her father shoved it out into the choppy sea and relied on their strength and knowledge of the area to navigate safely to the wreck. They found nine survivors. Grace had to keep the coble steady in uneasy water while they loaded survivors into it and row with all the might she had to make the journey there and back again.

Grace was pivotal to the rescue of the Forfarshire's nine survivors. Her strength and determination saved their lives from the harsh sea waves and nighttime cold. Darling's heroism was such that several Victorian poets dipped pen in ink to write of her daring feat: Wordsworth, Thomas Hood, Henry Francis Lyte, and Algernon Charles Swinburne. 

For the next (and last) four years of her life, Darling became a national heroine and celebrity. Her heroism was celebrated by putting her image on packages of Cadbury’s chocolates (seen in the figure on the left) and by poems and literature written in her honor.

There is even a museum named for her in Northumberland called the RNLI[i] Grace Darling Museum. The museum includes information on Grace’s life, the lighthouse, and of course the daring rescue at sea that made her famous. The museum describes her instantaneous fame, saying that “Her extraordinary act of bravery became internationally known, making front page news and even reaching Queen Victoria. She became the media celebrity of her day and was showered with honours, including the RNLI's Silver Medal for Gallantry” (“About Grace Darling”). In a time period where Britain was still defining its celebrity culture, Darling’s ready heroism and bravery propelled her into stardom. She was uncomfortable with fame and preferred her isolated existence at the Longshore Lighthouse, living out the rest of her days in a mild resistance to the fame that rapidly made her wealthy and lauded in poems, paintings, and print.

Darling was showered with letters, donations, and attention. Her memory is kept alive even today, and the anniversary of her rescue has turned into a solemn journey of remembrance for an honorary crew of 13. Although lost to consumption at the height of her fame, Grace Darling has certainly not been forgotten.