It was at early dawn, one September morning, in the year 1838, that the
family at the Longstone light-house looked out through a dense fog which
hung over the waters. All night the sea had run extremely high, with a
heavy gale from the north, and at this moment the storm continued
unabated. Mr. and Mrs. Darling and Grace were at this time the only
persons in the light-house; through the dim mist they perceived the
wreck of a large steam vessel on the rocks, and by the aid of their
telescope the could even make out the forms of some persons clinging to
her.
It was the Forfarshire steamboat on her passage from Hull to Dundee.
She left the former place with sixty-three persons on board. She had
entered Berwick Bay about eight o'clock the previous evening, in a heavy
gale and in a leaky condition; the motion of the vessel soon increased
the leak to such a degree that the fires could not be kept burning.
About ten o'clock she bore up off St. Abb's Head, the storm still
raging. Soon after the engineer reported that the engines would not
work; the vessel became unmanageable; it was raining heavily, and the
fog was so dense that it was impossible to make out their situation.
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