THE LIFE-BOAT FLEET Motor Life-boats, 137 :: Pulling & Sailing Life-boats, 28 LIVES RESCUED from the foundation of the Institution in 1824 to September 30th, 1938 .... 65,849

Grace Darling Centenary.

Opening of a Memorial Museum at Bamburgh.

SEPTEMBER 7th was the hundredth anniversary of the most famous of all rescues from shipwreck.

It was on the morning of September 7th, 1838, that Grace Darling, and her father, William Darling, put off in a rowing boat from the Longstone Light- house, Fame Islands, Northumberland, and rescued nine survivors of the sixty-three men, women and children who had been on board the Dundee steamer Forfarshire, which had struck on the Harker Rock in the early hours of that morning and had broken in two. Shortly afterwards seven fisher- men of North Sunderland, one of them Grace Darling's brother, reached the rock. They had had much farther to go, and they arrived to find that the rescue had been accomplished.

The First Account.

The double story of the rescue was briefly told to the Institution in two statements, each signed by four men.

The originals are among the Institution's records. Under the heading: " Wreck at the Fern Islands on the seventh of September, 1838, of the Forfarshire, S. V. Jn. Humble, Master, bound from Hull to Dundee," is the list of the nine persons rescued, the names of the rescuers, and then the " circumstances of the case." " We, the undersigned, do hereby certify that Wm. Darling, the keeper of the Light House on the Long Stone Fern Island, did at daybreak on Friday morning 7th September with the assistance of his Wife and Daughter (being the only persons then with him at the Light House) launch the Light House boat, and he and his Daughter Grace Darling about 22 years of age (who insisted on sharing her Father's danger) did succeed in reaching the wreck of the Forfarshire Steam Vessel on the Harker Rock, about three quarters of a mile from the Light House, and bring nine persons to the Light House in safety; where they were kept, and such assistance administered, as their necessities required, till the weather permitted communication with the main land, which was for the space of three days.

" ROBERT SMEDDLE, Bamburgh Castle.

" J. SCAFE, Gent., Bamburgh.

" JOHN EMBLETON, Surgeon.

" THOMAS MADDISON, Bambro Castle."

"We the undersigned do hereby certify, that Wm. Robson, Michael Robson, James Robson (three Brothers) Wm. Swan, Thos. Cuthbertson, Robt Knox, and Brooks Darling (son of Darling the Lightman) fishermen, be- longing to North Sunderland, did proceed on the morning of the 7th of September in their own boat and to the imminent risk of their lives, succeed in reaching the wreck of the Forfarshire Steam Vessel upon the Fern Islands; where they were detained* by the state of the sea from returning until Sunday the 9th when they ventured off, bringing with them three bodies and were obliged to land at Beadnel, some distance to the south of North Sunderland.

" ROBERT SMEDDLE, Bamburgh Castle.

" J. SCAFE, Gent., Bamburgh.

" JOHN EMBLETON, Surgeon.

" THOMAS MADDISON, Bambro Castle."

The Rewards. Grace Darling and William Darling were both awarded the gold medal of the Royal Humane Society and the silver medal of the Royal National Life-boat Institution. The men of North Sunderland, some of whose descendants man the North Sunderland life-boat to-day, were rewarded by the Institution, which gave £10 to be divided between them, William Darling and Grace Darling.

Since that time nineteen women have won the silver medal of the Institution, but none for a deed comparable in gallantry to Grace Darling's. Hundreds of men, too, since that time, have won the silver medal, but few have deserved it more than William Darling. He went out to the rescue feeling that, if he did not, his daughter would go by herself.

He went knowing that although they might reach the wreck, they could never hope to row their boat back unless they succeeded in rescuing some of the men of the Forfarshire and those men were not too injured and not too exhausted to help. His worst moment was when he landed on the rock and left Grace Darling in the boat. That she was able to handle it alone in the heavy seas and to keep it off the rocks was a wonderful feat of skill and strength and courage.

The Grace Darling Memorial Museum.

*They stayed at the lighthouse.

The e centenary celebrations of Grace Darling's deed began on July 21st, when the Duke of Northumberland opened at Bamburgh the Grace Darling Memorial Museum. The site was pre- sented by Lord Armstrong, lord of the manor, and the funds to build the museum were raised by the Bamburgh Grace Darling Memorial Committee, formed in November, 1935, with Major Charles M. Forster, O.B.E., T.D., as its chairman, and the Rev. G. R.

Wilkinson, vicar of Bamburgh, as its honorary treasurer. In response to the committee's appeal some £400 was subscribed by the public, and the balance required to build the museum has been contributed by the Institution, in whose custody the museum has been placed.* The museum stands close to the house where Grace Darling was born, and opposite St. Aidan's Church, where she is buried.

The opening ceremony began with a service in St. Aidan's Church, con- ducted by the vicar of Bamburgh. In the church every seat was occupied.

Many people were standing in the aisles, Outside hundreds listened to the service, which was relayed through loud-speakers. The congregation, headed by the Bishop of Newcastle and the clergy of the diocese, then went in procession to the doorway of the museum. There Major Forster told the story of the rescue, and Lord Arm- strong formally entrusted the museum to the Institution and presented to Sir Godfrey Baring, Bt., the Institution's chairman, the title deeds of the site. As he did so the Right Hon.

Sir Charles Trevelyan, Bt., Lord Lieu- tenant of Northumberland, broke the Institution's flag on the mast above the museum.

The Bishop of Newcastle then dedicated the building, and the Duke of Northumberland unveiled a memorial, plaque on the north wall bearing the inscription: " This building was erected in memory of GRACE HORSLEY DARLING.

1815-1842.

One hundred years after her heroic rescue with her father of the steamer Forfarshire, wrecked off the Fame Islands, 7th September, 1838." * Major Forster has accepted the invitation of the Institution to be the Honorary Curator of the museum.The architect, Mr. G. L. Couves, presented the key of the museum to the Duke of Northumberland, who then unlocked the door and declared the museum open.

A vote of thanks to the Duke was proposed by Major Forster and seconded by the vicar of Bamburgh, and, on behalf of the Institution, Sir Godfrey Baring presented to Major Forster a framed picture of Bamburgh Castle in recognition of his work as chairman of the museum committee.

About three thousand people took part in the ceremony, among them Miss Grace Horsley Darling, of Gateshead, and Mr. William Darling, of Renton, as well as other members of the Darling family, the Mayors of Tynemouth, Berwick and Morpeth, and the crew of the North Sunderland life-boat, with Coxswain James Robson at their head, great-grandson of Michael Robson, one of the boat's crew which went out to the Forfarshire.

The History of the Boat.

The coble in which Grace Darling and her father went out to the rescue was an open rowing boat 21 feet long by 6 feet wide. It was built at Tweed- mouth, Berwick-on-Tweed, about 1830, and was used at the Longstone Light- house by William Darling till approximately 1857. As it was then no longer seaworthy for the very stormy waters round the Fame Islands, he gave it to his youngest son, George Alexander Darling (twin brother of William Brooks Darling), of Seahouses. He was a ship's carpenter, and his father considered him the most likely son to take great care of it.

George Darling used it for a number of years for fishing from Seahouses, and when it became too old for such work he sold it to Colonel John Joicey, Newton Hall, Stocksfield-on-Tyne. This was in the early seventies, probably 1873. There the coble remained for years on the ornamental lake, and when no longer sound enough to lie afloat, it was housed in a shed in the grounds. While in the possession of the Joicey family it was lent to various exhibitions, being shown at Tynemouth in 1882, London in 1883, Liverpool in 1886, Newcastle in 1887, and Glasgow in 1888.

In 1913 the coble was presented to the Royal National Life-boat Institution by Colonel Joicey's daughter, Lady John Joicey-Cecil, wife of Lord John Joicey-Cecil, on condition that it should remain in Northumberland.

From then until 1930 it was exhibited at the Dove Marine Laboratory, Cullercoats. In 1930 it was, for six months, on exhibition in Newcastle-on-Tyne at the North-East Coast Exhibition. Since then it has been in the care of Lord Armstrong at Bamburgh until a permanent home could be built for it.* The Exhibits.

The coble is the chief exhibit in the memorial museum. Before it went to the museum it was carefully surveyed by the Institution's own surveyors, and was put into as thorough a state of repair as possible without altering its appearance. It stands by itself in the museum behind a panel of glass on a bed of sand from Bamburgh beach.

The Institution has also presented to the museum a bust of Grace Darling by David Dunbar, similar to Dunbar's bust which is in the National Portrait Gallery. Many other relics have been presented or lent to the museum.

Among them are several locks of Grace Darling's hair, a piece of the dress which she wore when she went out to the Forfarshire, her ring, her umbrella, a cloak and scarf given her by the Duke of Northumberland, a Bible given her by the ladies of Nottingham, a replica of her gold medal from the Royal Humane Society and the silver medals awarded to her and her father by the Institution. There are also in the museum the red ensign and other relics of the Forfarshire and many original letters, paintings, engravings and photographs. The names of the seven fishermen who went out from North Sunderland and the record, as already given, of what they did, are to be placed in the museum.

Centenary Celebrations.

The centenary was celebrated on Wednesday, September 7th, at Bamburgh, the arrangements being made * This history of the coble was given by Major Forster in his address at the centenary celebrations, and we have documentary evidence of its history before the coble was given to the Institution.by the Joint Seahouses and Bamburgh Centenary Committee, with Major Forster as chairman. That morning there was a light south-easterly breeze blow- ing which did no more than ripple the sea. A large congregation'gathered in St. Aidan's Church at 10.30 for a short service conducted by the vicar. The lesson was from the 9th chapter of the Gospel of St. Matthew: "And he entered into a ship, and passed over, and came into his own. city "; and the hymns were " Let saints on earth in concert sing " and " Fierce raged the tempest o'er the deep." After the service the congregation went in pro- cession to the Grace Darling memorial in the churchyard, which bears the date September 7th, 1838, and wreaths were laid on it by Lord Armstrong, Captain W. J. Oliver, M.C., on behalf of the Institution, and Mrs. J. Jepson, a grand-niece of Grace Darling, on behalf of her relatives. The Institution's wreath bore the words: " From the Royal National Life-boat Institution and the Men and Women of the Life-boat Service." Many of the congregation then visited the museum.

In the afternoon hundreds of people went to the Longstone Lighthouse, every available motor boat in Sea- houses being used. They saw the kitchen and Grace Darling's bedroom, and from there went to the Harker Rock, following the course which Grace Darling and her father had taken. The motor life-boats from Boulmer, North Sunderland and Holy Island also took parties to the lighthouse, and on behalf of the Centenary Committee, one of the life-boatmen placed a wreath on the memorial to Grace Darling in St. Cuthbert's Chapel on Inner Fame.

The weather had changed, a stiff northerly breeze was blowing and the sea was very choppy when the trips were made.

On their return from the lighthouse the people poured into the Seahouses cinema. There a film was shown, called " Nursery Island," of the bird life on the Fame Islands, in which Grace Darling had taken so great an interest. This was followed by the life-boat film " Boats that Save Life." Major Forster then told the story of Grace Darling's life at the lighthouse, the rescue of the nine survivors of the Forfarshire, her celebrity and her death at the age of twenty-six.

In the evening there was again a large congregation at St. Aidan's Church, where a memorial service was conducted by the vicar of Bamburgh, and the preacher was Canon R. R.

Mangin, of AInwick, Archdeacon of Lindisfarne. The hymns were " Oft in danger, oft in woe," " Eternal Father, strong to save," " Fierce raged the tempest o'er the deep," and " Abide with me." The Memorial Sermon.

The Archdeacon said: " We have come here to-night to pay our tribute of honour and reverence to Grace Darling's memory. There is no need for me to tell you the story of that great deed, which has been told so often.

All of us Northumbrians know it well from our very childhood. Others may hear it told with surprise and admiration, but we who live here, though we yield not in the admiration with which we recall it, do not hear it with surprise, for after all it is what we expect of any Northumbrian fishergirl, and we expect it not in vain. Do not think for one moment that I would minimize the courage or greatness of this deed, but many of you, like myself, can recall deeds of courage and heroism done not only by the fishermen, but by the fishergirls on this coast, deeds not so famous, but hardly less brave.

" Hers was a great deed and a brave deed, and I would emphasize that what enabled her to do it was that she was prepared in spirit and body to face the crisis when it arose. It is so with any great act of courage. It seems spontaneous, instantaneous, but long years of preparation had preceded it. It was so with Grace Darling on that' Longstone rock, where she had learned to manage a coble, no easy thing in the stormiest of seas. It was that under- lying' spirit of preparation that enabled Grace Darling to do this great deed, and if we are to meet whatever crisis comes to us in life, we .too must be prepared, not only in spirit, but in body, as was she." The centenary was also celebrated by many articles in the Press, and the B.B.C.

broadcast an account of the opening of the museum from its Newcastle-on-Tyne station. It also broadcast two plays, one, called " Grace Darling," by Mr. L. du 'Garde Peach, from the Regional StudiH in the Children's Hour, in May, and the other, called " Long- stone Light," by Miss Mary D. Sheridan, from Newcastle-on-Tyne in September.

The celebrations have shown how secure a place Grace Darling holds in public memory and admiration, and nothing has shown it more clearly than the interest taken in the museum at Bamburgh. Visitors have already come to see it from all over Great Britain.

Many thousands have known Grace Darling as a name symbolizing courage and self-sacrifice, to whom the details of her exploit were unknown. All that has now been written about her, and still more the opening of this museum in her memory, should ensure that not only her name but what she did will be remembered..