Lot 1224: George Zobel (1792-1879), after Thomas Brooks

George Zobel (1792-1879), after Thomas Brooks
Grace Darling
mixed method engraving on wove paper, good impression with margins, published by Fishel, Adler & Schwartz, New York
unframed
S. 27¼ x 36¾in. (69.3 x 93.4cm.)
with a mezzotint by David Lucas, of Grace Darling and her father rescuing survivors of the Steam Packet Forfarshire, 7th September 1838, published by T.Boys, London, 1853; and a mixed method engraving of The Interior of Longstone Lighthouse, Fern Islands, Grace Darling and her Parents, administering to the unforunate survivors saved from the wreck of the Forfarshire Steam Packet, on the 7th September 1838, by Charles George Lewis, after H.P.Parker, published by Ackermann & Co., London 1840
unframed (3)

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In the early hours of 7 September 1838, Grace, looking from an upstairs window of the Longstone Lighthouse on the Farne Islands, spotted the paddlebox (the only remaining piece of wreckage) and 13 survivors of the ship, SS Forfarshire on Big Harcar, a nearby low rocky island. The Forefarshire had foundered on the rocks, broken in half and sunk during the night.
She and her father, William Darling, determined that the weather was too rough for the lifeboat to put out from Seahouses, so they took a rowing boat (a 21ft, 4 man Northumberland Coble) across to the survivors, taking a long route that kept to the lee side of the islands, a distance of about half a mile. Grace kept the coble steady in the water while her father helped four men and the lone surviving woman, Mrs. Dawson into the boat. Although she survived the sinking, Mrs Dawson had lost her two young sons during the night. William Darling with three of the rescued men then rowed back to rescue the remaining survivors while Grace and the fourth man comforted Mrs. Dawson.