Share
twitterlinkedinfacebook
Image 1 of 1
BNPS_GraceDarling_08.jpg
BNPS.co.uk (01202 558833)<br />
Pic:  RNLI/BNPS<br />
<br />
A painting of the famous rescue owned by the RNLI.<br />
<br />
Historic medal sells for £38,000.<br />
<br />
The very first gallantry medal awarded to a woman - a brave lighthouse keeper's daughter who helped save nine survivors of a ship wreck - has sold for £38,000.<br />
<br />
Grace Darling was Victorian Britain's greatest heroine who risked her life to go to the rescue of the stricken passengers of a sunken paddle steamer.<br />
<br />
At dawn on September 7, 1838, Grace spotted the group clinging to a large rock off the Farne Islands, Northumberland, about 600 yards from the Longstone Lighthouse.<br />
<br />
The 23-year-old convinced her father to go to their aid and the two of them set off in gale force winds and heavy seas in a 21ft rowing boat.