Drawing of the lifeboat crew resting after the rescue
Many people don’t know that the North Sunderland Lifeboat Crew also attended Grace’s famous rescue.
How well do we remember a story? Many people don’t know that the North Sunderland Lifeboat Crew also attended Grace’s famous rescue. It took the men 3 hours to row out to Big Harcar Rock, where they found no survivors. Soaked, and with the weather worsening, they stopped at the lighthouse hoping to get warmth and shelter. One of the men was Grace’s brother Brooks.
But there was no room in the lighthouse. And, the nine survivors had already been given any spare clothes. So the lifeboat crew spent several uncomfortable nights in the workmen’s barracks, where the lighthouse builders had previously lived. The detail of the picture shows the cramped conditions, with only a small fire to help the men dry out their clothes that hang from a line above them. Notice that the seven men of the lifeboat crew are not pictured with lifejackets or any of the modern equipment that lifeboat crew's have today. The North Sunderland crew left the lighthouse after 4 days of unceasing storm and had the unpleasant task of collecting the bodies of those who had died on the wreck of the SS Forfarshire.
Grace Darling in 10 objects
The RNLI Grace Darling Museum can’t portray the world in 100 objects; but we can give you more information about the life of one of its most celebrated heroines by focusing on the details of 10 different objects on display in the museum.
These pages help you to explore parts of the collection that you can’t easily see in the displays. Click through to see all the objects.