Recently, people of all ages remembered the bravery of a lifesaver who battled fierce seas in a little rowing boat to carry out a rescue 175 years ago. This was no archetypal Victorian coxswain, but a lighthousekeeper’s daughter whose bravery and determination is reflected in the women who help save lives at sea today

It’s the early hours of 7 September 1838. You’re wrapped up warm in a lighthouse, a mile or so out to sea. Outside, the rising sun is dimmed by a raging storm. The wind’s howling and the waves are crashing against the rocks so loudly that you can’t sleep. You peer from the window, watching the Farne Islands take a battering from the elements.

And then you notice a large black shape about three quarters of a mile away – a shape that wasn’t there yesterday. It’s a wrecked steamship. You go and wake up your father, William, and then look out the window again. There are no signs of life.

That stricken vessel is the SS Forfarshire. During her journey from Hull to Dundee her engines failed. Left at the storm’s mercy, she was thrown onto a jagged rock ripping her in two. Most of her 63 passengers were below deck, and succumbed to the sea before they could reach the lifeboats.

Nine of them, however, managed to survive by clinging to a rock known as Big Harcar. And you’ve just spotted them through a telescope. It’s around 7am now; the daylight and falling tide have revealed the devastation of the wreck. It’s amazing there are any survivors. But how long will they last? They must be freezing, exhausted – seriously injured, perhaps. The nearest lifeboat is based at North Sunderland, but will the crew be able to get here in this storm? It seems that the survivors’ only chance is you and your father.

You brace yourselves against the wind outside, unstrapping the small fishing boat that you secured against the weather last night, and you launch into the churning sea. It takes both of you all of your strength and nerve to avoid capsizing or hitting the rocks.

The storm is getting worse.

You draw up to the bedraggled survivors and somehow, single-handed, you manage to keep the coble near enough for your father to leap onto the rock. He returns with a woman and four men, some of who 
take up the oars and help row back to the lighthouse. You help some of the survivors ashore. Meanwhile your father returns to the rock with a couple of the least exhausted men to pick up those left behind. You’ve saved their lives.

Lifesaving spirit
Grace Darling was awarded an RNLI Silver Medal for Gallantry in recognition of those deeds – the first woman to ever receive such an award. She became an icon, a national heroine, and was most bemused by all the attention she received. But the legacy she left was far from modest. Read on to meet some of the women who save lives at sea today …