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Grace Darling




In the early hours of September 7 , 1838 , Grace, looking from an upstairs window of her family's current lighthouse on the Farne Islands , spotted the ship, ''Forfarshire,'' which had run aground on the Harcar Rocks only a few hundred yards away. Knowing 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 nine survivors, bringing them safely back to the lighthouse.

Even in her lifetime, Grace's achievement was celebrated, and she received a financial reward in addition to the plaudits of the nation. She died of Tuberculosis , unmarried, in 1842 , and her memorial may be seen in the parish church at Bamburgh, close to a museum dedicated to her achievements and the seafaring life of the region. Her deed was committed to verse by Tennyson and a lifeboat with her name was presented to Holy Island .

It has been suggested by scholars she may have suffered from a cleft lip.

Currently, the Royal National Lifeboat Institution Mersey Class Lifeboat at Seahouses bears the name ''Grace Darling''.


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