Northumberland Yesterday and To-dayTerry, Jean F. (Jean Finlay)
History
Northumberland Yesterday and To-day
Terry, Jean F. (Jean Finlay)
Northumberland (England) -- Guidebooks; Northumberland (England) -- History
place of safety and examined the contents of the bag, what was her
joy to find that the warrant was there. It was speedily destroyed;
and during the time that elapsed before the news of the loss could
be sent to London and another one made out, the friends of Sir John
succeeded in obtaining his pardon. “Cochrane’s bonny Grizzy” lived
to a good old age; and “Grizzy’s clump” on the north road near the
little village of Buckton keeps green the memory of her daring
exploit.
“Bonny Grizzy” was a Scottish maid, though her gallant if lawless
deed was performed on Northumbrian soil; but there is one
Northumbrian maiden whose fame will live as long as the sea-waves
beat on the wild north-east coast, and as long as men’s hearts
thrill to a tale of courage and high resolve. Grace Darling’s name
still awakens in every bosom a response to all that is
compassionate, courageous, and unselfish; and the thoughts of all
north-country folk bold that admiration for the gentle girl which
has been voiced as no other could voice it, in the magical words of
Swinburne—
“Take, O star of all our seas, from not an alien hand, Homage paid of
song bowed down before thy glory’s face, Thou the living light of all
our lovely stormy strand, Thou the brave north-country’s very glory
of glories, Grace.”
The story of her gallantry has been many times re-told, but never
grows wearisome. The memory of that stormy voyage of the
_Forfarshire_, which ended in disaster on the Harcar rocks in the
Farne group, remains in men’s minds as the dark and tragic setting
which throws into bright relief the gallant action of the father
and daughter who dared almost certain death to rescue their
fellow-creatures in peril. It was in September, 1838, that the
ill-fated vessel left Hull for Dundee; but a leak in the boilers
caused the fires to be nearly extinguished in the storm the vessel
encountered. It reached St. Abb’s Head by the aid of the sails, but
then drifted southward, driven by the storm, and struck in the
early morning, in a dense fog, on the Harcar rocks. Nine of the
people on board managed to escape in a small boat, which was driven
in a miraculous manner through the only safe outlet between the
rocks. They were picked up by a passing boat and taken to Shields.
Meanwhile a heavy sea had crashed down upon the _Forfarshire_, and
broken it in half, one portion, with the greater number of crew and
passengers, being swept away immediately. The remaining portion,
the fore part of the vessel, was firmly fixed upon the rock. Here
the shivering survivors clung all that stormy day, the waves
dashing over them continually. The captain and his wife were washed
overboard, clasped in each others’ arms; and two little children, a
boy of eight and a girl of eleven years of age, died from exposure
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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