Here you go, Bert.GRACE DARLING
1. 'Twas on the Longstone Lighthouse there dwelt an English maid,
Pure as the air around her, of danger ne'er afraid.
One morning just at daybreak a storm-tossed wreck she spied.
Although to try seemed madness, "I'll save the crew," she cried.
CHORUS: And she pulled away o'er the rolling seas, over the waters blue.
"Help, help": she could hear the cry of the shipwrecked crew;
But Grace had an English heart: the raging storm she braved;
She pulled away 'mid the dashing spray and the crew she saved.
2. They to the rocks were clinging, a crew of nine, all told;
Between them and the lighthouse, the seas like mountains rolled.
Said Grace: "Come help me, father. We'll launch the boat," said she.
"Tis madness," said her father, "to face that raging sea." CHORUS
3. One murmured prayer: "Heaven guard us"; and then they were afloat.
Between them and destruction, the planks of that frail boat.
Then said the maiden's father: "Turn back, or doomed are we."
Then up spoke brave Grace Darling: "Alone I'll brave the sea." CHORUS
4. They rode the angry billows and reached the rock at length;
They saved the shipwrecked sailors: in heaven alone their strength.
Go tell the wide world over what English pluck can do,
And sing of brave Grace Darling who nobly saved the crew. CHORUS
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#100 from THE OXFORD BOOK OF SEA SONGS edited by Roy Palmer.
In Palmers's notes to the song, he describes the tale that led to the song. Grace Darling (1815-1842) was the daughter of William Darling, the keeper of the Longstone Lighthouse in the Farne Islands (off the coast of Northumberland). On Sept 7, 1838, the paddle steamer "Forfarshire" wrecked on one of the islands in a gale. Shortly after sunrise at low tide, they noticed some people out on Harker's rock a mile or so from the lighthouse. William and Grace launched their rowboat and made it out to the rock where they found 9 people (8 men, 1 woman). That was too many to take at one time in such mountainous seas, so they took the woman and 4 men and rowed back to the lighthouse. William and two of the men returned to the rock and rescued the remainder. All were saved. Grace and William Darling were awarded the Royale Humane Society gold medal. The lyrical version obviously takes some poetical license with the story details. A song by Felix McGlennan, a waltz, a quadrille, and a galop were all composed in Grace's honor. The song has also apparently been collected in Australia and in Ireland where Grace had "an Irish heart".rich r
Note from Joe Offer: The version here was sung by Walter Pardon of Knapton, Norfolk, in 1974
The Watersons sing almost the same lyrics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6jGofEAWGFg
...and there's an interesting version by the Strawbs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAU-mOrBr_A - very different tune and lyrics