Origins: Grace Darling (from Walter Pardon)

Subject: LYR: Grace Darling
From: Bert Hansell
Date: 18 Jul 97 - 08:58 AM

Seeing the thread about the Lifeboat Mona reminded me of a song my Father used to sing about Grace Darling.

It was evidently based on a true event
Does anyone know any more of it? This snippet sounds as though it might be the chorus.

She pulled away on the dashing spray, over the waters blue
"Help, help", she could hear the cry of the shipwrecked crew
But Grace had an English heart and the stormy winds she braved
She pulled away on the dashing spray
and the crew she saved.

Bert.

Subject: Lyr Add: GRACE DARLING (Oxford Book of Sea Songs)
From: rich r
Date: 18 Jul 97 - 10:22 PM

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

- - -
#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

Subject: RE: LYR: Grace Darling
From: Barry Finn
Date: 19 Jul 97 - 08:08 PM

Another interesting (? you can tell me to shut up nicely) lighthouse keeper wa Ida Lewis (offical keeper 1879-1911). Her father was a costal ppilot, with his health declining, he became the 1st keeper in 1853 & moved his family onto Lime Rock in 1857 when Ida was15. After 4 months her father suffered a stroke, with a sick sister, Ida being the oldest eventually took over the duties of keeper. Her first rescue was, of 4 soldiers at the age of 16, her last was at 63, saving her friend who'd rowed out to visit, inbetween she offically rescued another 13, she's claimed to have saved 25 in total. Ida was the best know keeper of her day because of her rescues. Pres. Grant & Vice Pres. Colfax went to visit her in 1869,the Life Saving Benevolent Assoc. of NY gave her $100 (she earned $600 per yr) and a silver medal, a parade was held in her honor in Newport on Independence Day & gave her a mahogany lifeboat with red velvet cushions, gold braid around the gunwales& gold plated oarlocks (she hardly used it), she was given a lifetime pension from the Carnegie Hero Fund of $30 monthly. On the eve of her death every bell on every boat in the harbor of Newport (Rhode Island) tolled in her honor. In 1924 RI legislature changed the name of Lime Rock to the Ida Lewis Rock & when the light was deactivated in1963 the Newport Yacht Club (later changed to the Ida Lewis YC) bought the Ida Lewis Rock Lighthouse from the Coast Guard & got permission to put a light back in the old lantern & they still maintain it as a private aid to navigation. From 'Women Who Kept The Lights' by M & J Clifford, 1993 Barry

Subject: RE: LYR: Grace Darling
From: Bert Hansell
Date: 21 Jul 97 - 09:10 AM

Thanks guys, My father will be 86 this Saturday and is still going strong. He will just love to have all of the words, and I'm sure he will enjoy the story of Ida Lewis.

Rich, do you have a tune for the verse?

Thanks again,

Bert.

Subject: copyright info grace darling
From: mg
Date: 21 Feb 19 - 09:37 PM

I need help on this. Did one of the limelighters do this under pseudonym of Cal Bagby? I have gone through Easy Song Licensing and it came up as foreign. Is it a trad English song originally?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Grace Darling
From: Joe Offer
Date: 21 Feb 19 - 10:26 PM

mg, I hope you don't mind my moving you over to this thread. Let's research this song and see what we can find. There are two Grace Darling songs in the Digital Tradition. One is called simply Grace Darling by G. Linley. It begins:

Oh! Father lov'd, the storm is raging
Andcold and heavy the night mist falls;
Some hapless crew, a prey to danger,
For help, for help, despairing calls.

I don't think that's the one you want, is it?

---

The second is The Ballad of Grace Darling, by Cal Bagby. That's the one that's on the wonderful Through Children's Eyes by the Limeliters:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joDqzk87bwA

Good Old rich r posted the lyrics above, as he found them in the Oxford Book of Sea Songs.

discogs.com says that Cal Bagby is a pseudonym for Lou Gottlieb. All Gottlieb furnished in the Limeliters version, were the alternate choruses. The rest of the Limeliters recording is the Walter Pardon version that's in Palmer's Oxford Book of Sea Songs.

You'll also find two copies of this song at Bodleian Ballads. I haven't figured out how to determine the dates of these broadsides, but I'm sure they're in public domain and suspect they are 19th century.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Grace Darling
From: GUEST,Julia L
Date: 21 Feb 19 - 10:28 PM

There were a number of songs composed and marketed about Grace Darling which went into popular circulation during her lifetime. They have been passed along in the vernacular- two were collected here in Maine in the 1920's.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Grace Darling
From: Joe Offer
Date: 21 Feb 19 - 11:04 PM

There are three songs titled "Grace Darling" in the Traditional Ballda Index. Ours is #1.

Grace Darling (I) (The Longstone Lighthouse)

DESCRIPTION: "Twas on the Longstone lighthouse there dwelt an Irish maid," Grace Darling. At dawn she saw "a storm tossed crew ... to the rocks were clinging." With her father's reluctant help, she launched a boat, rowed out, and "boldly saved that crew."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1946 (Ranson); 19C (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 13(240))
KEYWORDS: drowning sea ship storm wreck sailor rescue
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Sep 7, 1838 - Grace Darling and her father rescue nine of the crew of Forfarshire (source: Ranson)
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Ranson, pp. 86-87, "The Longstone Lighthouse" (1 text, 1 tune)
Palmer-Sea 100, "Grace Darling" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1441
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 13(240), "Grace Darling" ("Twas at the Longstone lighthouse"), unknown, no date; also Harding B 11(4158), "Grace Darling"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Grace Darling (II)" (subject)
cf. "Grace Darling (III)" (subject)
NOTES [674 words]: Ranson: "Grace Darling was the daughter of the light-house keeper on one of the Farne Islands (a group of Islands, also called The Staples, seventeen in number) two miles off the N.E. coast of Northumberland.... The song has evidently been adapted for Irish audiences." - BS
According to Paine, p. 188, the Forfarshire was a steamer which carried cargo fro Hull and Dundee. Built in 1834, her last trip began on September 5, 1838, from Hull. She suffered boiler problems the next day, and the engines eventually went out completely in a storm. Her pumps also were struggling (Cordingly, p. 218.) Captain Humble nonetheless decided to continue with sails only rather than seek shelter -- even though her unpowered paddlewheels would make her far less maneuverable. She was wrecked on the Farnes shoals a little before 4:00 a.m. on September 7 (Paine, p. 188).
No one seems quite sure how many were aboard; Hudson/Nicolls, p. 90, suggests a crew of 25, with 40 passengers. They say the boat broke in two on the rocks, with the stern section (with the captain and almost all of the passengers but only part of the crew) was swept out to sea,with no survivors. Cordingly, p. 218, suggests that she carried 55 passengers and crew in addition to Captain Humble and his wife. He says on p. 219 that the twelve who were on the forward section included a women, two children, a handful of other passengers, and carpenter John Tulloch, who managed to bring the survivors to a rock. They had no food and no shelter, and were soaking wet and in danger of hypothermia. And they were about a mile from the lighthouse.
The Longstone Lighthouse was built in 1826 to replace an earlier lighthouse which had been ineffective in preventing wrecks. The Darling family had long kept the lighthouse; William Darling had succeeded his father as keeper of the old lighthouse in 1815, and then had moved to the Longstone light when it was finished (Cordingly, p. 216).
William and his wife Thomasina (who apparently was considerably older than her husband) had nine children, but only two -- Grace and one boy -- were still at home in 1838, and the boy happened to be away on the night of the storm. The Forfarshire wreck was not the only time WIlliam Darling went on a rescue mission; Cordingly, p. 217, tells how he and his sons had rescued a man from the Autumn in 1834. By 1838, however, most of the boys had moved out.
Grace Darling was apparently the first to see the wrecked Forfarshire. Because it took at least two to handle their lifeboat (a 21-foot-long coble, according to Cordingly, p. 219), William Darling had to have Grace to help him go out on his rescue mission. The gale was still blowing, and their boat was open, so this was genuinely dangerous (Cordingly, p. xii).
Three of the survivors -- a clergyman and the two children -- had died before the Darlings could reach them (Cordingly, p. 220). It took two trips, but the nine passengers still living were all brought back to Longstone (Cordingly, p. 221. Several of them helped with the rowing during the rescue).
Although William and Grace both took part in the rescue, it was Grace who became famous for her part (as Cordingly says on p. 215, "For a woman to row out to a shipwreck in a storm was unheard of, and the story received even more attention for the fact that the woman was twenty-two years old, had a pleasant face and modest manner, and had a name that might have come straight from the pages of a Victorian novel). A subscription brought her about 750 pounds in gifts, and she became a popular subject of poetry and at least four books. The lighthouse became the site of a perverse sort of pilgrimages; the myriad visitors made it hard for the Darlings even to tend the lighthouse (Cprdingly, p. 222).
According to Benet, p. 275, Grace Horsley Darling was born in 1815, making her 22 years old (and hence rather a spinster) at the time of the Forfarshire wreck. She died in 1842, still a heroine, of a cough she picked up not too long after the rescue (Cordingly, p. 223).- RBW
Bibliography

• Benet: William Rose Benet, editor, The Reader's Encyclopdedia, first edition, 1948 (I use the four-volume Crowell edition but usually check it against the single volume fourth edition edited by Bruce Murphy and published 1996 by Harper-Collins. The entry on Grace Darling, however, was deleted from the fourth edition)
• Cordingly: David Cordingly, Women Sailors and Sailors' Women, Random House, 2001 (I use the undated, but later, paperback edition)
• Hudson/Nicholls: Kenneth Hudson & Ann Nicholls, Tragedy on the High Seas: A History of ShipwrecksA & W Publishers, 1979
• Paine: Lincoln P. Paine, Ships of the World, Houghton Mifflin, 1997

Last updated in version 4.3
File: Ran086

---

Grace Darling (II)

DESCRIPTION: Grace tells her father to launch the lifeboat in the storm to rescue "the shipwreck'd wanderers from the grave." He answers "'twere worse than madness." At daybreak she calls on him again to launch the boat. They launch the boat and save the crew.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1861 (broadside, LOCSinging sb20150a)
KEYWORDS: drowning sea ship storm wreck sailor rescue
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Sep 7, 1838 - Grace Darling and her father rescue nine of the crew of _Forfarshire_. (source: Ranson, p. 87)
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
WolfAmericanSongSheets, #798, p. 53, "Grace Darling" (2 references, which appears to be this song)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth b.28(3a/b) View 8 of 8, "Parody. Grace Darling" ("Oh! dearest dad, the winds are blowing"), G. Ingram and Co. (London), no date
LOCSinging, sb20150a, "Grace Darling" ("Oh! father loved! the storm is raging"), H. De Marsan (New York), 1859-1860
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Grace Darling (I) (The Longstone Lighthouse)" (subject) and notes there
cf. "Grace Darling (III)" (subject)
NOTES [83 words]: The description is based on broadside LOCSinging sb20150a.
Broadside LOCSinging sb20150a: H. De Marsan dating per Studying Nineteenth-Century Popular Song by Paul Charosh in American Music, Winter 1997, Vol 15.4, Table 1, available at FindArticles site.
While broadside Bodleian, Firth b.28(3a/b) View 8 of 8 is labelled "parody" it is not comical. Instead it seems a mild paraphrase. - BS
For background on Grace Horsley Darling, see the notes to "Grace Darling (I) (The Longstone Lighthouse)." - RBW
Last updated in version 3.5
File: BdGrDa02

---

Grace Darling (III)

DESCRIPTION: At night in a heavy sea the "Forfarshire" steamer strikes a rock on Longstone Island. "To pieces she flew." Grace Horsley Darling hears the cries and asks her father to go to the rescue. They launch a boat and save nine of sixty.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1858 (broadside, Bodleian Firth c.12(126))
KEYWORDS: rescue drowning sea ship wreck father
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Sep 7, 1838 - Grace Darling and her father rescue nine of the crew of Forfarshire (source: Ranson)
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Greig #168, p. 1, "Grace Darling" (1 text)
GreigDuncan1 30, "Grace Darling Our Langoleen" (1 text)
Roud #3811
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth c.12(126), "Grace Darling" ("I pray give attention to what I will mention"), The Poet's Box (Glasgow), 1858; also Harding B 15(118a), Firth c.12(125), 2806 c.14(25), "Grace Darling"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Grace Darling (I) (The Longstone Lighthouse)" (subject) and references there
cf. "Grace Darling (II)" (subject)
NOTES [110 words]: "Langoleen" is not in the Greig/GreigDuncan1 text. It is not in the Greig #168 article. GreigDuncan1 neither explains it nor says the song title is "editorial." Finally, I don't know what the word means. - BS
Partridge's Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English defines "langolee" (no terminal n) as a ninteenth century term for "the male member"; maybe this is the reason for the lack of a definition in most of the textbooks. If we assume "langoleen" is the feminine form, then perhaps it's "beloved." Or perhaps I'm speculating out of turn.
For background on Grace Horsley Darling, see the notes to "Grace Darling (I) (The Longstone Lighthouse)." - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GrD1030

---

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography

The Ballad Index Copyright 2018 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.

---

And here are the Digital Tradition lyrics:

THE BALLAD OF GRACE DARLING
(Cal Bagby)

'Twas on the long stone 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
And up spake brave Grace Darling
I'll save the crew she cried

cho: So she pulled away on the rolling sea
Over the waters blue "help, help" she could hear the cry
Of the shipwrecked crew
But Grace had an English heart and the raging storm she braved
She pulled away o'er the rolling sea
And the crew she saved

They to the rock were clinging
a crew of nine all told.
Between them and the lighthouse
the seas like mountains rose.
Said Grace "Come help me father,
We'll launch the boat," said she.
Her father cried "'Tis madness,
To face that raging sea"
Chorus But she.........

One murmured prayer 'heaven guard us'
And then they were afloat
Between them and destruction
The planks of that frail boat.
Then spoke the maiden's father
"Return or doomed are we"
But up spoke brave Grace Darling
"Alone I'll brave the sea"
Chorus So she......

They bravely rode the billows
And reached the rock at length
They saved the storm tossed sailors
In heaven alone their strength
Oh tell the wide world over
What English pluck can do
And sing of brave Grace Darling
Who nobly saved the crew
Chorus When she......


VERSE
G D
'Twas on the long stone lighthouse
G
There dwelt an English maid
D
Pure as the air around her of danger ne'er afraid
C G
One morning just at daybreak
C
A storm tossed wreck she spied
G
And up spake brave Grace Darling
A D
I'll save the crew she cried

CHORUS
G
So she pulled away on the rolling sea
D
Over the waters blue "help, help" she could hear the cry

Of the shipwrecked crew
G
But Grace had an English heart and the raging storm she braved
C G
She pulled away o'er the rolling sea
D G
And the crew she saved


(Recorded by The Limeliters on "Through Children's Eyes")

See also: GDARLING


@sea @storm @woman @English @sailor @wreck @rescue
filename[ GDARLIN1
MB
Oct00

Popup Midi Player

---

Note from Joe Offer: "Ranson" in the Traditional Ballad Index is Joseph Ranson, Songs of the Wexford Coast (1975) - can somebody post the version from Ranson???

Subject: ADD Version: Grace Darling (Limeliters)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 21 Feb 19 - 11:12 PM

Here's my transcription from the Limeliters recording on the Through Children's Eyes album. It's almost the same as the lyrics in Roy Palmer's Oxford Book of Sea Songs. I'll put the different words in italics.

GRACE DARLING

'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 will save the crew," she cried.

CHORUS:
She pulled away on the rolling sea, over the waters blue.
"Help, help": she could hear the cry of the shipwrecked crew;
But Grace had an English heart: and she knew how to handle an oar;
"Help, help": came the desperate yelp from the wreck offshore. (twice)

They to the rock were clinging, a crew of nine, all told;
Between them and the lighthouse the sea like mountains rolled.
Said Grace: "Come help me, father. We'll launch the boat," cried she.
Her father cried, "Tis madness, to face that raging sea."

CHORUS:
She pulled away on the rolling sea, over the waters blue.
"Help, help": she could hear the cry of the shipwrecked crew;
But Grace had an English heart: and she knew how to handle a boat;
"Help, help": came the desperate yelp, they were still afloat. (twice)

[Omitted: 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]

She bravely rode the angry billows and reached the rock at length;
She saved the storm-tossed sailors: in heaven alone her strength.
Go tell the wide world over what English pluck can do,
And sing of brave Grace Darling who nobly saved the crew.

CHORUS:
She pulled away on the rolling sea, over the waters blue.
"Help, help": she could hear the cry of the shipwrecked crew;
But Grace had an English heart: and the raging storm she braved;
"Help, help": she pulled away with the dashing spray, and the crew she saved. (twice)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joDqzk87bwA

Subject: ADD Version: Grace Darling [Harding B13(240)]
From: Joe Offer
Date: 22 Feb 19 - 12:50 AM

There are two versions at Bodleian Ballads
Here's Harding B13(240). Harding B11(4158) is identical. Wish I knew how to tell the dates these broadsides were printed.

GRACE DARLING

'Twas at 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 crew she spied.
Although to try seemed madness, I'll save the crew, she said.

CHORUS:
And she pulled away o'er the rolling sea, over the waters blue.
Help, help: she could hear the cry of the shipwrecked crew;
But Grace had an English heart, as the raging storm she braved;
And she pulled away o'er the dashing spray, and the crew she saved.

They to the rocks were clinging, a crew of nine all told,
Between them and the lighthouse the seas like mountains rolled.
Cried Grace, Come help me, father, to launch the boat, said she.
Tis madness, cried her father, to face that raging sea.

CHORUS

One murmured prayer, Heaven guard us, and then they were afloat.
Between them and destruction the planks of that frail boat.
Up spoke the maiden's father, Return, or doomed are we.
But up spoke brave Grace Darling, Alone I'll brave the sea.

They bravely rode the billows, and reached the rock at length,
And saved those storm-tossed sailors, in heaven alone their strength.
Go tell the wide world over what British pluck can do,
And sing of brave Grace Darling who nobly saved that crew.

Gee, it's almost the same as what's in Palmer. I wish I knew the date of this broadside.

Subject: RE: Origins: Grace Darling (from Walter Pardon)
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 22 Feb 19 - 04:11 AM

I have the original McGlennon sheet music. I'll look it out later. Actually it's not that old, sometime in the 1890s. The broadsides must be quite late ones.

Subject: RE: Origins: Grace Darling (from Walter Pardon)
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 22 Feb 19 - 06:36 AM

As far as I remember there were at least 2 earlier songs written about Grace Darling (not to mention march, waltz and cotillion I think!), nearer the event, ca1840s, but the McGlennon version, written as Steve says much later, seems to have been the one that caught people's fancy, being widely (geographically) collected.

When I was looking for the sheet music some time ago, the earlier ones were available, but I could only find the cover of the McGlennon.

Mick

Subject: RE: Origins: Grace Darling (from Walter Pardon)
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 22 Feb 19 - 01:10 PM

My grandmother sang it. I have a recording. Norma Waterson recorded it and it is still sung in our local clubs. In fact in a week's time it'll probably be sung at our maritime concert. I hope it is. My mother (95) will be there and she'll recognise it straight away as sung by her mother.

Subject: RE: Origins: Grace Darling (from Walter Pardon)
From: GUEST,JimP
Date: 23 Feb 19 - 11:32 AM

I briefly considered learning this song for the Dickens fair in San Francisco. It is originally a music hall song, and I obtained the sheet music from the Australian National Museum. I don't have it handy right now, but I will post the author and date later if I can dig them up. The tune is slightly different from the one used by The Limelighters and Norma Waterson, but the words are clearly the basis for tbe versions given above.

Subject: Lyr Add: GRACE DARLING (Felix McGlennon)
From: GUEST,Jim P
Date: 23 Feb 19 - 08:09 PM

Allright, I've got the sheet music in front of me. Its undated, and states that the words and music are by Felix McGlennon, whom Wikipedia tells me "was a British songwriter and publisher, whose seriocomic songs were popular in the music halls of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries." He died in 1943, aged 87 years. Copyright "F.Pitman Hart & Co. LTD, 20 & 21 Paternoster Row, London, E.C." The verses are in 2/4 time and the chorus is 3/4. Lyrics are as follows; I've tried to keep the spelling and punctuation as in the original:

GRACE DARLING
(Felix McGlennon)

'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 day-break,
A stom-toss'd wreck she spied;
And tho' to try seem'd madness;
"I'll save the crew," she cried.

CHORUS
And she pulled away o'er the rolling sea,
Over the waters blue,
Help! Help! she could hear the cry of the shipwreck'd crew;
But Grace had an English heart,
And the raging storm she brav'd,
She pull'd away, mid the dashing spray,
And the crew she sav'd.

They to the rock were clinging,
A crew of nine all told;
Between them and the light-house,
The sea like mountains rolled.
Said Grace, "Come, help me father,
We'll launch the boat," said she;
Her father cried, "'tis madness
To face that raging sea."

CHORUS

One murmur'd pray'r - Heav'n guard us!
And then they were afloat;
Between them and destruction,
The planks of that frail boat.
Then spoke the maiden's father,
"Return or doom'd are we,"
But up spake brave Grace Darling
"Alone I'll brave the sea."

CHORUS

They bravely rode the billows,
And reach'd the rock at length,
They saved the storm-tost sailors,
In Heav'n 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

Subject: RE: Origins: Grace Darling (from Walter Pardon)
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 24 Feb 19 - 10:11 AM

I've just sent a copy of the music to Joe for dispersal. I have in front of me the D'Alcorn edition and a copy of the 150th edition in red ink published by F. Pitman Hart.

Subject: Lyr Add: GRACE DARLING (Ed Perry + G Lindley)
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 24 Feb 19 - 12:33 PM

Showing what British pluck can do, here are transcripts of the other two songs I found. If you want the tunes you can download the pdfs from the link given in the sources.

It's easy to see why these failed to catch on, unlike the McGlennon version. There's nothing like a roomful of people singing that lovely rocking chorus. I sang it myself a few months ago at Kiveton and afterward, Judy Dalton told me that one of her ancestors (greatx4 grandfather?) had been the first mate and was one of the ones rescued - not by Grace Darling, but in the lifeboat that was picked up by the ship out of Tynemouth/Shields (can't remember which!). She had his sextant I think and donated it to the Grace Darling Museum. (They were handling it with white gloves as a treasured object, though she said it had spent the last 20 years stuck in a shed!).

I always felt that Grace's father was hard done by in the McGlennon song (much as I love to sing it). He's portrayed as the wimpy one trying to avoid going out, but he wasn't at all. He and Grace agreed together to go out (as she would always say herself).

But it was Grace that caught the public imagination and became quite the celebrity. Apart from the songs, there were articles about her, she had commemorative crockery and statues issued, sketches and portraits made, awards given, and was introduced to gentry. Sadly she died only half a dozen or so years after the event.

(And one of the tunes I found was a Gavotte, not a Cotillion!)

(And if Joe's sending out copies of the McGlennon sheet music I'd love a copy!)

Mick

---

GRACE DARLING
(Edward Perry)

Introduction:
In slumbers deep the father lay
The storm it loudly blew
His child in hast and wild dismay
To his lone cabin flew.

(SLOW and with Great Feeling)
"Why wakes my child at this wild hour?
The innocent should sleep
Most tranquilly when wind and show'r
Around their dwelling sweep!"
"Oh Father," said the startled maid
"I slept but such a cry
Of horror 'woke me I'm afraid
There's death or danger nigh.

And hark! again Oh! let us haste
'Tis some bewildered crew
Upon the reckless waters waste,
Oh! fly in pity do!
Your arm is strong to stem the wave,
And Heav'n will give me pow'r
To help and snatch them from the grave,
Oh! speed 'tis mercy's hour!"


The father kissed his fearless child
Then with an inward pray'r
They launched amid the billows wild,
To succour sad despair!
A moment more, and all was lost
But Oh! what rapture when
Their little Skiff tho' tempest tost
To shore came safe again.
Oh! who could count the blessings shed
Upon the gen'rous girl
By lips that but for her were dead
Amid the stormy whirl!
But oh! what must her heart have felt
Such danger having braved
When by her sire to Heav'n knelt
In safety with the saved.


Source: Grace Darling - Perry at Levy

The cover has "STANZAS commemorative of the HEROIC BRAVERY of GRACE DARLING & HER FATHER ON THE OCCASION of the DISASTROUS WRECK of the FORFARSHIRE STEAM SHIP on the 7th SEPTEMBER 1938"
"Sung by Mr.C.E HORN AT HIS SOIREES."

Published by DAVIS & HORN, New York, nd

At the end of the music, there is the name S. Ackerman, but it's unclear if he wrote the words or did the arrangement.

---

GRACE DARLING
(George Lindley)

(Slowly with Expression)
Oh Father lov'd, the Storm is raging,
And cold and heavy the night mist falls;
Some hapless Crew, a prey to danger,
For help, for help despairing calls.
Trim, trim the lamp, the Boat launch quickly,
Tho' danger threaten, the worst we'll brave:
The toil I heed not, if we can rescue
The Shipwrecked Wand'rers from the Grave.
Oh! Father lov'd the Storm is raging,
And cold and heavy the night mist falls;
The Boat launch quickly, the Boat launch quickly,
Some hapless Crew for help now calls.

2
My gentle Child! 'twere worse than madness,
To tempt the Billow this fearful Night;
Again to Sleep, to rest betake thee,
Await, await, the Morning's Light."
I cannot sleep, their shrieks appall me,
Oh! Father, heard ye that piercing cry?
Arise ye, hasten, the day is breaking,
Look out, look out, a wreck I spy.
Oh! Father lov'd I fear no danger,
With you, I will boldly breast the Wave,
The boat launch quickly, the boat launch quickly
Yon hapless Crew we yet May save.

3
The boat is launched thro' breakers roaring,
Like to some wild bird, the frail Skiff flew
That Gentle Girl, with love unshaken
Has saved from Death that hapless Crew;
The danger past, her heart beats lightly,
Her silent transport no pride betrays,
Tho' grateful tears are round her falling,
And hearts are throbbing to her praise.
The danger past, her heart beats lightly,
Her silent transport no pride betrays,
Tho' grateful tears are round her falling,
And hearts are throbbing to her praise.


Source: Grace Darling - Lindley at Levy

The cover has: "A BALLAD Written and Composed by GEORGE LINDLEY. The heroic conduct of Grace Horsley Darling who with her Father rescued nine Persons from the wreck of the Forfarshire Steamer has furnished the subject of this ballad"

Published Millets Music Saloon, New York, nd

Subject: RE: Origins: Grace Darling (from Walter Pardon)
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 24 Feb 19 - 12:40 PM

Mick
Not sure if I've still got your email. Had a few computer crashes since we were last in touch. PM me your email nd I'll send you it.

Subject: RE: Origins: Grace Darling (from Walter Pardon)
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 24 Feb 19 - 12:50 PM

Found you. Are you still with AOL? I'll try it anyway.

Subject: RE: Origins: Grace Darling (from Walter Pardon)
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 24 Feb 19 - 02:49 PM

Steve

Yes I am and I've your email. Thanks very much for that. (and Joe - you can disregard my earlier request now!).

The cover I found was also D'Alcorn & Co, but without the adverts for the various other Grace Darling items, "sung by Kate Harvey" (no Miss) and priced at 4/-

Mick

Subject: RE: Origins: Grace Darling (from Walter Pardon)
From: Richard Mellish
Date: 24 Jan 21 - 06:12 AM

A new thread, started yesterday and already closed last night, reminded me of this song. I thought I had posted a comment about it somewhere before but I can't find one here, so here goes.

Apart from any other considerations, one feature of the song has always put me right off it; the reference in the chorus to "the waters blue". The song writer failed to engage brain when including that stock phrase. Given the references to "the raging storm" and "the dashing spray", the sea would have looked a deary grey, not at all blue.

Subject: RE: Origins: Grace Darling (from Walter Pardon)
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 25 Jan 21 - 10:05 AM

What colour is the deep blue sea then:-)

Subject: RE: Origins: Grace Darling (from Walter Pardon)
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 10 Feb 21 - 03:53 PM

Just been sent a different song from the singing of a 91-year old Yorkshire lady.

Any help identifying/matching up would be appreciated.

No meadow way with flowers gay,
Made bright Grace darling's home,
She lived upon a lighthouse grey,
That dwelt across the foam.

One night a storm smote the sea and shore,
And when dawn came at last,
A sinking wreck far off she saw,
With nine men clinging fast.

A-ha, a-ha
Over the waves to save them,
Heedless of blinding spray,
Danger and death to save them,
That was Grace Darling's way.

Pulling so strong so bravely,
Pulling sos traight and true,
In a little boat she kept afloat,
And she saved that crew.

It has the same style as McGlennon's song.

Subject: RE: Origins: Grace Darling (from Walter Pardon)
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 10 Feb 21 - 04:54 PM

It's not the Lindley or Perry songs about her, nor the alternative broadside (Grace Horsley Darling in last lines).

Mick

Subject: RE: Origins: Grace Darling (from Walter Pardon)
From: FreddyHeadey
Date: 02 Feb 24 - 07:57 PM

This programme gives a good flavour of the coble.
Mainly about fishing but Grace gets a brief mention.

The Coble - BBC Radio 3 - 2024
The Essay - A Circumnavigation of the British Isles in Five Traditional Boats   
The coble is the working boat of the northeast of England, with a high stem and knife-like forefoot for facing the breaking waves, but flat-bottomed aft, so it can be launched off the beach and sit upright on the sand at low tide, with not a straight line anywhere.

Katrina Porteous lives on the coast of Northumberland and spent years with coble fishermen, learning their way and languages. Many of the poems in her first collection, The Lost Music focus on the Northumbrian fishing community, about which Katrina has also written in prose in The Bonny Fisher Lad. She weaves verse from her poem The Wund an’ the Wetter, into her unsentimental paean for the coble and the way of life it encapsulated. It's said it takes a village to raise a child; it certainly took a whole community to build a coble, to fish with and maintain one.

With accompanying piping by Chris Orminston.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001vllx

Subject: RE: Origins: Grace Darling (from Walter Pardon)
From: Thompson
Date: 03 Feb 24 - 04:52 AM

Surely the ocean blue would've been a deep dark green as seen from the boat, though grey from the beach?
There's a good Wikipedia piece about the maid with the multinational heart, which includes a picture of a Cadbury's chocolate bar with her image, and a painting of the imagined rescue by Thomas Musgrave Joy in which she's tastefully dressed in a nice frock and a stylish bonnet as she rows to the rescue.
Apparently the poor lass died of TB aged 42.

Subject: RE: Origins: Grace Darling (from Walter Pardon)
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 03 Feb 24 - 06:31 AM

”Apparently the poor lass died of TB aged 42.”

According to the ‘Fabulous North’ website, she died in 1842, at the age of 26. She is buried in St. Aidan’s Churchyard, Bamburgh, Northumberland.

Grace Darling Monument

Subject: RE: Origins: Grace Darling (from Walter Pardon)
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 05 Feb 24 - 04:51 PM

We spent a lovely week near Bamburgh last summer: there’s a Grace Darling Museum in Bamburgh. I’m ashamed to say we didn’t actually visit it - it was beach weather for the grandchildren, though we did go out on one of the boats from Seahouses as far as the Longstone lighthouse.
Next time definitely, and it will be interesting to see if there is any reference to, or even recordings of, these songs in the museum.