The Heart of a Darling

The North Sea as well as home to a myriad of marine life also plays a cruel captor to the unsuspecting sailor and is in places a heavily littered graveyard of what was once strong, thought to be indestructible ships. The power of the sea is great, with the remains of thousands of vessels strewn across its floor

The power of the sea is un-measurable, except in relation to the compassion of a heroine. Grace Darling was born in Bamburgh (Northumberland) in 1815, the daughter of a lighthouse keeper. Grace and her family lived in the lighthouses of Brownsman and Longstone, on the Farne islands. The darling family name is a heroic one along the length of the North Sea coastline.

At 4:45am on 7th September 1838, Grace spotted the shipwreck of the SS Forfarshire, which had foundered on the rocks of Big Harcar, a rocky island in the Farnes.  The ship had broken in half and had sunk during the night, leading over 40 soles to a watery grave. As first light came Grace and her father William Darling noticed survivors clinging onto jagged rocks in a desperate bid not to succumb to the seas mercy. The weather was too rough to allow a lifeboat to be launched from the nearest port of Seahouses meaning the survivors would drown before rescue. Unwilling to see this happen Grace and her father risked their own lives to save the remaining passengers in their small coble rowing boat.

On reaching the wreck, nine soles were found still alive, several of which were badly injured from a night subject to the seas merciless power. Grace single handed battled the power of the waves keeping the boat steady as her father pulled people to safety. The coble, could only take 5 bodies back in the first rescue, meaning a second journey was required. Grace along with her mother tended to the victims as her father and two of the ships crew returned to collect the rest of the survivors.
By the time the lifeboat was able to launch safely the rescue had been completed. Conditions however were recorded as so challenging that the lifeboat and its crew resided on the Farne Islands for a further three days before returning back to the mainland.

Grace Darling was, and still continues to be known in Northumberland as a heroine. She undertook an incredibly difficult and life threatening task and showed bravery and determination. During Grace’s time the role of women focussed primarily on taking care of the home and family, the bravery she showed during this rescue was therefore seen as incredible. Grace died four years later following the rescue in 1842, aged 26 of tuberculosis. Her story is well known throughout Northumberland and is recognised and celebrated through museums in the local area.