THROUGH the generous gift of Lady John Joicey-Cecil the Royal National Life-boat Institution has lately come into the possession of a very precious relic connected with our Island story, and one singularly appropriate to the humane and heroic purpose for which the Institution exists. We refer to the coble, twenty-one feet long by six feet broad, in which Grace Darling performed the splendid deed which will consecrate her memory for all those of British blood as long as the North Sea thunders on the basalt cliffs of Bam- borough, and the lines of Wordsworth and Swinburne enshrine the story in imperishable song.

It was the express wish of the donor that this frail monument of a gentle and heroic Northumbrian maid should not leave the confines of the county.

And so, after considerable and anxious hesitation as to the most suitable spot at which to place the gift, the Com- mittee of Management finally decidsd to accept the kind offer of the authori- ties of the Dove Marine Laboratory at Cullercoats to place it in their Aquarium, where it can be Been by hundreds of visitors throughout the year. It has, therefore, been lent by the Institution, and the Committee of the Marine Laboratory have generously arranged that the Institution shall receive a proportion of the fees paid by visitors to see the boat, which thus again becomes, by a happy accident, the means of assisting in the work of rescue with which it will for ever be associated.

The story of Grace Darling's exploit has been told a thousand times, but to each new generation it brings an example of splendid heroism coupled with modesty and self-effacement, a message of sweetness and light which comes like a whiff of the sea, mingled with the scent of primroses and thyme breathing out their fragrance in the sun. And for no one can it have a greater interest than for the readers of the Life-boat Journal who are actively helping, either by financial support or by actual work in the Life-boat, in the great national service which the Institu- tion is carrying on. We propose, there- fore, to tell the story once more, and to re-awaken, in connexion with the recent gift of the boat, the memory of the events in which it played a part on that wild autumn night in 1838.

The coast of Northumberland consists of a long series of flat sandy beaches, extending from Tyne to Tweed, and broken only by the outfall of the Rivers Coquet, Aln, Wansbeck and Blyth, and by the great basalt cliffs which stand out here and there all the more boldly in that they are isolated features of the landscape.

The southern half of the county is blackened and made hideous by the coal- dust of the mines to which it owes its wealth. It is as if it had paid for the Nibelungen treasure which is dug from its bowels by the loss of its natural beauty; although we must not forget that the stern labour of the mines pro- duces a magnificent body of men who, albeit landsmen, are as intrepid Life- boatmen as ever pulled an oar, and never shirk any danger, no matter what be the weather or the state of the sea.

The northern half of the county, in which coal has not been discovered, still retains its charm and beauty, which is accen- tuated by the stately dignity of many noble castles, some of which date back, at least as regards their earliest and ruined portions, to the days of the Kingdom of Mercia and the conversion of its kings and people by St. Aidan and St. Cuthbert. The survey of 1468 mentions thirty-seven of these castles, most of which were built in such Cyclo- pean strength that they still remain, though in many cases as only imposing ruins.

The finest castle of all is Bamborough : " King Ida's castle huge and square," as it is described in " Marmion." Impos- ing in its massive character and majestic outlines it is rendered truly superb by its position " throned on a huge triangu- lar rock, which is crested with its walls and towers, while from the centre rises the massive tower of the keep, with its flagstaff and banner." The castle has been admirably restored, first by Arch- deacon Sharpe, and lately by the present Lord Armstrong, with perfect regard for the spirit of the original fortress.

The seaward wall looks sheer down to the sea, 150 ft. below, although the vast accumulations of sand on the east side diminish the effect of the lofty cliff of sandstone and shale. To quote Tomlinson's " Guide to Northumber- land " :—" A more impregnable strong- hold could not well be imagined. For rugged strength and barbaric grandeur it is the king of Northumbrian Castles.

To the mariner plying between the Elbe and the Tyne it is the most conspicuous landmark on the north-east coast." A little to the north-east of Bam- borough lie the Fame Islands, which were the scene of the wreck of the Forfarshire.

The largest island, Fame or House Island, is two and a quarter miles from the little harbour at Seahouses. It has two lighthouses, one with a revolving, the other with a fixed light. The island is full of associations with St. Aidan and St. Cuthbert. The latter retired in 676 from his priorate of Liudisfarne, or Holy Island, as it was subsequently called, to lead the austere life of a hermit; and here he remained until 685, when, at the earnest appeal of King Eggfrid and the Archbishop of Canter- bury, he reluctantly accepted the See of Hexham, only to throw aside his crosier and mitre and to return to his hermit life after two years of active work, dying two months later, after enduring greab pain and misery, and without a single attendant or friend, although he received the last sacraments from Abbot Herefrid.

A little beyond the Fame are the Wideopens, or Wedums and the Noxes, and a channel a mile wide divides this group from the Staples, which are famous for the thousands of sea-birds which cover their surface, and which include, beside guillemots, the dotterel, the oyster- catcher, the gull, the cormorant, the eider duck, the puffin, and the razor-bill.

Slightly to the north are the Wawmses, and to the east the Big and Little Harcar, the west side of the Big Harcar being the spot where the For- farshire was wrecked. Finally, to the north-east of this spot lies the Long- stone, "a bare and fissured reef, not 4 ft. above high-water mark, and con- sequently, during storms swept over by drifts of foam." On its eastern side stands the lighthouse, 85 ft. high.

It was erected in 1826, and has a revolving light on the dioptric or re- fracting system, visible eighteen miles.

In this tower, around which the waves incessantly leap and roar, often driving the keepers and their families to the higher chambers for shelter, Grace Darling lived the greater part of her life. She was born in November, 1815, and was the daughter of William Darling, the keeper of the lighthouse.

She was a girl of a very modest and retiring disposition, with nothing of the masculine qualities which might have been expected in one who carried out so heroic an exploit. She is described by one who visited her soon after the wreck of the Forfarshire as " a little, simple, modest young woman . . . neither tall nor handsome, but she has the most gentle, quiet, amiable look, and the sweetest smile that I ever saw in a person of her station and appearance." She had received a good education for her station in life, and was chiefly occupied in assisting her mother in managing the little household. At the same time, living in the midst of the sea she was used to boats and knew how to handle an oar. She was twenty-two years of age at the time when the following events occurred.

The Forfarshire, a steamer of about 300 tons, John Humble, Master, sailed from Hull for Dundee on the 5th Sep- tember, 1838, with forty-one passengers, the Master and his wife and a crew of twenty men. Although she was a new vessel there had evidently been some deplorably bad workmanship or super- vision, for her boilers were in a very bad state. A small leak had been discovered before leaving Hull, and it had been temporarily patched up. But when off Flamborough Head the leak broke out again and put out two of the fires. The boilers were again partially repaired and the fires relighted, and in this state the vessel passed through the Fairway, as the passage between the mainland and the Fame is called, about 6 P.M. on the 6th September. At about 8 P.M. she entered Berwick Bay, and, being battered by the storm, the en- gines became useless, and sails were hoisted to prevent her driving ashore.

She, however, soon became unmanage- able, and, the wind setting strong from the north, she drifted with the tide, through a dense fog, in a southerly direction, till breakers were discovered close to leeward, and the proximity of the Farne lights showed to all oa board the imminent peril of their position. An attempt was made again to run through the Fairway, but, carried along by the tide, the Forfar- sldre struck with tremendous force on the Big Harcar at three o'clock on Friday morning the 7th September.

Seven of the crew launched one of the ship's boats, and one of the passengers threw himself into it as it left, two others perishing in the attempt. By a lucky chance, which may almost be described as miraculous, the boat suc- ceeded in getting clear of the rocks, and the occupants were picked up twenty- four hours later and carried into Shields.

Almost as soon as the boat was out of sight a tremendous sea struck the vessel, raised her off the rock, and then dashed her down upon it, completely breaking her in half. The after part, with the quarter-deck and cabin, upon which were the majority of passengers and crew, was swept away through a powerful current called the Piper Gut, whilst the fore part remained fast on the rock, below which, to this day, lies the half of one of the vessel's beams.

Shortly after, the captain was washed overboard with his wife in his arms, and both were drowned. The sur- vivors managed to get on to a small rock, where they were exposed to the most terrible sufferings ; numbed with cold, with heavy seas breaking over them at intervals, and the gale so fierce as to strip their clothes from them.

One of the most terrible incidents of the night's tragedy was that of a J woman, Mrs. Dawson, who was found, when help came, still alive and clasping in each hand her children, a boy of eight and a girl of eleven, who had died hours ago under the fierce buffet- ting of the waves. About seven in the morning the survivors were seen from the Longstone, about a mile off, by the Darlings, and Grace Darling and her father at once decided to attempt the j rescue. A mist still hovered over the island, and although the wind had somewhat abated, the sea was still raging, making any approach to the terrible Harcar rocks a work of extreme peril. Some idea of the danger is given by the fact that considerably later in the day a reward of 51., offered by the steward of Bamborough Castle, could scarcely induce a party of fishermen to launch a boat from the mainland.

Yet below the light, between the reefs, a skiff shot out; Seems a sea-bird, fain to breast and brave the straight fierce pass Whenoe the channelled roar of waters, driven in raging rout, Pent and pressed and maddened, speaks their monstrous might and mass.

Thunder heaves and howls about them, lightning leaps and flashes; Hard at hand, not high in heaven, but close between the walls, Heaped and hollowed of the storms of old, whence reels and crashes All the rage of all the unbaffled wave that breaks and falls. After a tremendous struggle, which must have exhausted the strength of a girl who was far from robust, the scene of the disaster was reached, and five of the nine survivors were taken off and carried back to the Longstone. William Darling then returned with two of the rescued men and saved the remaining four; and it is significant of the strain involved by the effort that the old man often stated in subsequent years that he thought he would never have got the boat back to the lighthouse against the tide, if some of the survivors had not been able to row.

Thus nine lives were saved from a death which had already overtaken forty-six out of the total of sixty-three who sailed in the Forfarshire, and the initiative seems undoubtedly to have come from the brave girl whose heart was wrung by the sight of her fellow- creatures in .dire distress, and who un- hesitatingly embarked on a task which might well have daunted a strong man.

No wonder that when the news of the rescue became known it stirred the hearts of every man and woman through the length and breadth of the British Isles, and presents and money came pouring in on the heroine. But she was one of those rare and gentle spirits who are incapable of being spoilt by the caresses of Fortune, and it is grati- fying to know that she quietly but decisively refused an offer of 20Z. a night to appear at the Adelphi in a shipwreck scene, although it only meant sitting in a boat. She also refused many offers of marriage, and declined to leave her island home.

Unfortunately, her constitution was already giving way, and there can be little doubt thai the tremendous strain of that night's work hastened the course of the disease, which had already laid its hand upon her young life. In spite of the efforts of friends to give her change of air and surroundings, Grace Darling sank into a rapid decline and died on the 28th October, 1842.

The same simplicity and nobility of character which we admire in the daughter was present in her father; and if anything can heighten the merit of his share in the rescue of the sur- vivors of the Forfarghire, it is the simple entry in his log-book: " Nine persons held on by the wreck, and were rescued by the Darlings." After his retirement he lived at Bamborough, where his daughter was buried, and where he died in 1865. Swinburne refers to both father and daughter in the lines— Years on years have withered since beside the hearth once thine I, too young to have seen thee, touched thy father's hallowed hand.

Thee and him shall all men see for ever, stars that shine, While the sea that spared thee girds and glorifies the land..