On September 6, 1838 the steamer Forfarshire had a fairly unimpressive boiler failure; apparently poor upkeep allowed the wrought iron boilers to rust through. The captain decided to continue on his scheduled route, sailing from Hull to Dundee, despite having leaks in both boilers. At 10:00 that night the boilers gave out, and the captain continued under sail through a rising gale.
At about 3 am on September 7, the ship struck the small, rocky island of Big Harcar (locally known as Great Hawker), and broke up. Eight people escaped on a lifeboat to mainland; when rescuers braved the gale to look for survivors, they found only drowned bodies.
But there were other survivors. Early on the morning of the 7th, Grace Darling looked out of her bedroom window -- located midway up her father's lighthouse -- and saw a group of perhaps 13 people huddled on Big Harcar. She alerted her father, and after some debate, she convinced him to rescue the group. This was…