Heroine. She gained recognition as a Victorian-era heroine after rescuing ship-wrecked survivors. For her bravery, she was the first woman to receive the coveted Silver Medal for Gallantry from the Royal National Institution for the Preservation of Life. Born the seventh of nine children of a Scottish lighthouse keeper, William Darling, she spent her youth in various lighthouses with her father. At 4:45 in the morning of September 17, 1838, she spotted a few yards away the remains of the paddle steamer, "Forfarshire", which had run aground on the rocks of the Fame Islands along the coast of Northumberland in northeast England. During a raging storm, the ship's engines failed and around 60 crew and passengers of men, women and children were at the mercy of the ocean. A large wave had broken the ship in half with one half sinking rapidly. With no foresight for their own safety in rough seas, she with her father promptly took a row boat across the treacherous waters to the other island and rescued the remaining nine frightened and water-soaked survivors, bringing them to the lighthouse. Only one survivor was a woman, who was in a state of shock and holding her two drowned children. Two trips had to be made to rescued the survivors. The woman and an injured man were among the first trip. She stayed at the lighthouse to nurse the first load of survivors while her father and some men survivors returned in the row boat to save the others. She was revered throughout the United Kingdom during her lifetime for her remarkable bravery, and her deed was committed to verse in "Grace Darling" by poet William Wordsworth. Her heroic actions were documented in oil-on-canvas by painter Thomas Brooks. There were several poems and paintings capturing her heroic deeds. Although she was a petite dark-haired girl, some artists painted her as a tall blond. Taking literary liberties, the national press gave romantic treatment of her actions and not always printing fact. The Grace Darling Museum, part of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution Heritage Trust in Great Britain, houses artifacts from the ship wreck and some of the paintings. Both her and her father were awarded gold medals from the Royal Humane Society and Silver Medals for Gallantry from the Royal National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck. Her simple humble life, which she greatly enjoyed, was gone forever after becoming a celebrity. Four years after the famous rescue, in 1842, she became ill with tuberculosis, dying within months at age 26.