When our noble Lifeboat Institution was in its infancy, a deed was
performed by a young woman which at once illustrates the extreme danger
to which those who attempt to rescue the shipwrecked must expose
themselves, and the great need there was, thirty years ago, for some
better provision than existed at that time for the defence of our
extensive sea-board against the dire consequences of storm and wreck.
It is not, we think, inappropriate to begin our chapter on lifeboats
with a brief account of the heroic deed of:--