GRACE DARLING

MAIN CHARACTERS

Daniel DONOVAN: He was a passenger on the Forfarshire.He was an engineer and a strong man .He was a good person .He was a philanthropic person
Mr. ROBB: He was a passenger on the ship. He was a churchman.
Mary DAWSON: She was a passenger on the ship. She was sailing with her two children.
Captain HUMBLE: He was the Forfarshire’s captain. He wasn’t a good captain.
Thomas BUCHANAN: He was a passenger on the ship. He thought of other people and he loved helping them.
Grace DARLING: She was lighthouseman’s daughter. She was a young woman. She was twenty-two years old and she had big brown eyes. She wasn’t very tall or strong. She was a good person. She loved helping people.
William DARLING: He was a lighthouseman. He was a thin strong man about fifty years old. He was a very good person. He loved his job.
Thomasin DARLING: She was William’s wife. She was about sixty-five years old.

I think, the best characters are William and Grace Darling and Daniel Donovan.
Because William Darling did his best for the people. He loved helping the people and his job. While he was saving the people, his life was in danger. Saving the people wasn’t Grace’s job but she loved people so she helped her father to save the people. People were very valuable for her. Daniel was a good engineer because at first he understood Forfarshire wasn’t a sailing ship. He loved people too. He went back the rock with William to save the other people.
I liked this book because it is a true story. It is about helping the people. It tells us, people’s life should be very valuable for us. We must help the people. We mustn’t be selfish
Main idea of the book: We must help the people and we must do our best for our jobs.

SUMMARY OF THE BOOK

On afternoon of 6th September in 1838, Forfarshire began its journey from Hull to Dundee, in Scotland. Forfarshire was a big comfortable modern ship. That day there was a strong, northeast wind. Daniel Donovan was a passenger on the ship. He stood on the deck of the ship. But it was diffucult because the wind was so strong. The ship was moving up and down uncomfortably so Daniel felt ill. A passenger beside him called Mr.Robb, he was a churchman. He said the wind was getting stronger and it was getting darker too. Daniel said he couldn’t see the land. He could only see big grey waves with white tops.
Mr.Robb said Forfarshire was a modern ship. Daniel looked up at the black smoke that came from ship’s funnel. Daniel said yes but he wasn’t really sure. He was an engineer so he knew about the engines. Sometimes engines made strange noises and the paddle wheels went round slowly. Suddenly there was a crash and they went quickly again. So Daniel was unhappy.
Daniel felt wind and rain on his face. Suddenly a woman screamed to come back Simon.Then Daniel saw a little boy. Suddenly a big wave hit the side of the ship. Then it was carrying the boy along the deck. Daniel caught the boy’s coat and carried him quickly back to his mother.
The ship moved up and down quickly so Daniel sat down beside the woman. The woman’s name was Mary Dawson. She had two children. Her husband was in Scotland. Mary Dawson said she couldn’t hear the engines. She was right! Because the engines have stopped also there was no smoke above the ship’s funnel and the big paddle wheels didn’t move.
All the time the big grey waves lifted the ship up and down and the white water blew over the deck.Mr.Robb screamed why they weren’t moving. Daniel shouted the engines had broken down. This wasn’t a sailing ship.
The weather was getting worse and it was nearly dark. The ship was sailing north from Hull to Dundee. But the wind came from the north so the began to go south again, back to England.
About thirty kilometres south east of St.Abbs Head was a group of small rocky islands not far from the mainland. These were Farne Islands, one of them Longstone Island, there was a lighthouse. That night, there were three people in the lighthouse –William Darling, his wife Thomasin and their daughter Grace. Grace’s brothers were usually there too. But that night they were in Bamburgh.
William Darling and Grace went up the long stairs of the lighthouse. William darling was a thin, strong man about fifty years old. Grace was a young woman. She was twenty-two years old. She wasn’t very tall or strong.
At the top of the lighthouse, they came into a small room. The noise of the wind and rain was terrible there. The rain crashed the windows and the wind screamed. William said God would help the poor sailors to see that light. When they went to kitchen, Mrs.Darling prepared supper. She was about sixty-five. She said William couldn’t help anyone. Grace said it was his job. He couldn’t leave them to die.
A young sailor said the captain wanted to see Daniel. Sailor and Daniel arrived the room. It was very hot and there were clouds of steam everywhere. The captain said, his name was Captain Humble, they needed Daniel. Because one of those engines had already stopped and the other was working very badly.
Then Daniel saw a big man. He was the ship’s engineer. He said the engines were too old and he couldn’t do anything for those engines there in that storm. So the ship had to go back to land. Then the captain came near them and Daniel told him the ship hadto go back to land. The captain pushed Daniel angrily away from him. He said Daniel wasn’t good to him. Then Daniel left the room.
Daniel stared out to see but he couldn’t see anything. But for away to the southwest –there was a little light flashing. But it was coming nearer.
When it was two o’clock, Grace slept in her room. It was small tidy room with white walls. Suddenly, she heard her father’s voice. He told to wake up. She got up and put her clothes on. Her father said the storm was worse. They tied the boat down.
White water crashed against the boathouse doors. In the boathouse they tied the boats.
When William and his wife were asleep, Grace watched the light.
In the passengers’ sitting room on the ship, Mrs.Dawson looked unhappily at Daniel. Daniel said Farne Islands were very near. He had seen the lighthouse flashing on them.
Daniel went out into the night. Then he looked up a light and he saw the lighthouse. He stood up and began to run along the deck. But there were rocks in front of the ship. Then there was a great crash and Daniel and all the sailors fell to the deck. The ship was broken in two and the back of the ship, with the captain and all the rich passengers wasn’t there. The door of the passengers’ room was broken but there were still some people inside the room. - Mr.Robb, Mrs.Dawson and her two children, Mr.Buchanan and James Kelly.
When Grace prayed in her bed, she heard a voice in her head. It said to go to the window. Then she went to window and saw the ship. Mrs.Darling said if there were people alive on that ship, William couldn’t save them. Because the boys weren’t there. Grace said if there was someone alive, they couldn’t just leave them to die. But they couldn’t see any people.
There were twelve people on Harker’s Rock. Daniel’s hands and legs were red with blood. Half an hour later Mr. Robb was dead. Daniel and Thomas climbed on top of the rock and they waved.
Suddenly Grace saw two men on top of the rock. William said he hadn’t seen a worse sea that year.Mrs.Darling said he couldn’t go and Grace said it was their job.
Grace and her father jumped into the boat. Grace was afraid but she was happy and excited.
Daniel said they were all going to die. Mrs.Dawson’s children were dead so Daniel hated the sea because he thought it wanted to kill people. Then he saw the boat.
Grace saw the people on the rock. There were too many people for that small boat. She was tired but the job hasn’t finished yet.
The fourth time William jumped on the rock. Grace was alone in the boat. She was very tired.
On the rock William said he was going to take the woman and that man who had broken leg and he needed three strong men, Daniel and two others. They would came back for the others later.
When they got to the lighthouse, they were very tired. Grace and her mother helped them. William, Daniel and Thomas went to the rock to save the others.
Mr.Darling and his young daughter saved nine people from the wreck of the Forfarshire. Queen Victoria thought that Grace is one of the finest young women in Scotland. One hundred years from that day, people will remember that event.


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tim Vicary is an experienced teacher and writer, and has written several stories for the Oxford Bookworms Library. Many of these are in the Thriller & Adventure series, such as White Death or, like Grace Darling, in the True Stories series, such as the coldest place on Earth, Which tells the story of the race between Scott and Amundsen to the South Pole. He has also published two long novels, The Blood upon the Rose and Cat and Mouse.
He has two children, and keeps dogs, cats and horses. He lives and works in York, in the north of England.