The lonely lighthouse, gazing out onto the forever, a vast endless sea of raging blue and effervescent storms, the rocks below so jagged and dangerous the need for the lighthouse was demanded yet still the ships came, still the ships wrecked, and still, the men tossed into the murky gloom beneath. Over 100 years ago, it was the duty of the lighthouse keeper not only to look after the lighthouse but to watch out for signs of trouble. Unusually, in the 19th century, one such keeper was Ida Lewis, a role unheard of for a woman to hold. But she was more than a keeper of the lighthouse, far more. She was a celebrity, revered around the world, even meeting the President, award after award heaped upon her heroic shoulders. Whilst she never wanted the acclaim, Ida was nothing short of incredible. Time after time, she dove into those stormy seas, single-handedly, to rescue many men, as many as 25 in her life, all in a time when women were seen as little more than ornamental, here was Ida, Superwoman extraordinaire. Putting her life on the line time and time again, there really were few like Ida Lewis. This is the story of a real-life superhero…
Prologue
Get ready for the greatest name in the history of the human race. On February 25th, 1842, Idawalley Zoradia Lewis… INCREDIBLE… was born in Newport, Rhode Island. She was the second oldest of four children born to Captain Hosea Lewis of the Revenue-Marine. This was the man who raised Ida, appointed to the Lighthouse Service. He was appointed keeper of Lime Rock Light near Newport in 1854, taking his family to live on this small, rocky outcrop. Which, when you see a photo of the small cottage that was their house, totally looks like a safe place to raise a family in.
Disaster was soon to strike. After only four months, Hosea suffered a major stroke and became disabled. Ida had to take up much of the slack, taking on domestic duties and caring for her poorly father. Even worse, her sister fell desperately ill and so Ida had to take on caring for her, too. To look after the lighthouse, young Ida and her mother had to step up, and remember, Ida was only 12. This was dangerous work for anyone, never mind a child, but Ida took it all in her stride, never complaining, not once. She was happy to help and care for her sister and her father.
Their duties were arduous. They had to fill the lamp with oil at sundown and again at midnight, trimming the wick, polishing the carbon off the reflectors and extinguishing the light at dawn, all this long before electricity. And most of that was done by Ida, her mother very much seeing her daughter as the one who would inherit the lighthouse when she and Hosea were gone. Ida, you have to learn how to do this. It’s all up to you, sweetheart. And she did it magnificently well.
This was now life for Ida but it was about to get harder…
Life on the Rock
Lime Rock Light, on its little island, meant that its inhabitants, the Lewis family, had to take a boat to the mainland. It was no surprise that Ida learnt to swim and she got real good. She was loving life on the rock. She took her siblings to school every day in her little rowing boat, a smile across her face. She delighted in the ordinary, the everyday life of the lighthouse family. When supplies were running low, Ida was always the first to volunteer to take the boat to go to town for supplies. Soon, however, Ida was to get her first taste of rescue…
In 1854, aged only 12, the night was dark and the waters stormy. Ida was on lookout one night when, across the rage addled sea, she spotted four men cast adrift in the water, their boat capsized, the men desperately trying to cling onto the boat, desperate to stay above the water. Without a second thought, little Ida raced to the shore and jumped into the family boat, the tides enormous, the skies on fire with vicious lightning. You can see her now. The rain pouring, the storm growing and growing and yet there was little Ida, on her own, rowing to where the men were stranded and helping each one onboard, rowing back to safety. The men couldn’t believe it! Four huge, grown men, experts of the sea, had just been saved by… a little girl, who had hauled them onto the boat. This wasn’t the last time a few good seamen would feel a tad embarrassed being saved by a woman, not that Ida cared.
Lime Rock was almost completely surrounded by water and by the time she was 15, Ida was known as the best swimmer in Newport, but her heroics were little shared, little known, as Ida did not want the publicity. She didn’t want people to think of her as a ‘hero’, but she very much was. Regardless, she was ahead of her time. Her impressive rowing and swimming skills led many to dub her ‘unfeminine’ as it was not considered ‘ladylike’ for a woman to row. Sigh. She said of this:
[No-one] but a donkey would consider it ‘un-feminine’ to save lives.
I mean, she has a point…
The Soldiers of Gratitude
Ida saved many men from drowning but her most famous exploit came in 1869 at the age of 27. It was March 29th. And once more, trouble was brewing in Newport Harbour. Two soldiers, Sergeant James Adams and Private John McLaughlin were passing through toward Ford Adams in a small boat guided by a 14-year-old boy. I know the way! Or so he claimed. But the skies, they were darkening, a snowstorm was churning the harbour’s waters and suddenly, a violent thrust of raw tidal energy surged and tipped the boat over; the waters were so incredibly violent the soldiers had simply no chance. This was, as many said, one of the worst storms to hit in a generation. Many went inside for safety. But Ida did not.
The two soldiers were struggling to stay afloat, their small boat slammed and thrown in every direction, panic setting in as they feared the end itself… their SCREAMS for help went unheard as their voices were drowned out by the loud and relentless claps of thunder high above… could anyone even see them? The tides were truly awesome. The two men were simply minutes away from death, the water well below freezing. Ida saw them. There’s two men in the water! And they saw her. They screamed, they screamed loudly and started waving toward the lighthouse. Ida called back… could they hear each other? We don’t know. Oh, and by the way, Ida was very unwell. She had the flu. And it was a very bad flu.
Ida struggled to move, her flu causing her joints to ache and stiffen. Regardless, she found some sprinkle of energy and ran as best as she could to her little row boat. She was wearing her nightgown. She didn’t have time to put on her coat or even shoes. She screamed back at the lighthouse for her brother, she could not do this alone. Her brother ran out and she ordered him to help. Get in the boat!
At once, Ida began to row, the only person rowing as her brother was there merely to haul the men aboard the boat whilst Ida tried to keep the boat steady in the rough waters. You can only imagine the terror in the eyes of their parents, her mother watching her daughter in a very light dress soaked through in a storm and her son barely clinging on, whilst Hosea, now wheelchair bound, was speechless. It was reckless for some, but incredibly brave all the same. The night was cold. Around freezing, Ida, completely soaked through, and shoeless, reached the stricken soldiers.
They were exhausted and exasperated to find themselves being rescued by a woman, who did most of the hauling. Her brother wasn’t much use. She got out of there as fast as she could, bringing the men to the lighthouse. She was drained. She had absolutely done so incredibly well that night, but she had nothing left to give. She collapsed onto the shore by the lighthouse, trying to get her breath back. The weather was worsening. GET INSIDE! She yelled at the soldiers, and they did as they were told.
Ida was, unquestionably, a complete and total hero…
The Hero of Newport
Shoeless and dripping wet, a towel now around her shoulders, her body shaken her sniffles worse than ever, one of the soldiers embraced Ida. He was so grateful. He even gave her his gold watch, which, although we don’t know the price, we know was very expensive. Ida had saved two men that night. And news of Ida’s bravery spread across America. She was in every single newspaper and she was invited to the soldier’s base at Fort Adams. The soldiers of the camp were so grateful and happy to see her that they raised $218 for her which she, predictably, used to help care for her family, because she was also selfless.
That is nearly $5,000 in today’s money. And still she was so shy she didn’t want the accolades, but she was getting them in spades. A reporter was sent from the New York Tribune to record her deeds and it was then it became apparent that this rescue wasn’t her first. Articles of Ida’s courage were splashed across the pages of Harper’s Weekly and Leslie’s Magazine, among many others. Even better, the Life Saving Benevolent Association of New York awarded Ida a silver medal and even better, on the next Independence Day, Newport held a parade in Ida’s honour. She was presented with a sleek, mahogany rowboat with red velvet cushions, gold braise around the gunwales and goal-plated oar-locks. Yup. Ida was a superstar. And even better? In 1869, she was visited by President Ulysses S. Grant and Schuyler Colfax, his Vice President. News of Ida’s fame spread far and wide.
Her father, wheelchair bound, became the tour guide for the lighthouse, hundreds of visitors a week descending on Newport to catch a glimpse of Ida. It was like The Beatles, everyone wanted to meet her, everyone wanted her autograph. Hosea lived long enough to see his daughter become more than he ever dreamed. He revelled in showing the tourists around, so proud of his daughter. At one point, there were more than 300 visitors a day. At the peak of summer, on one day, 9,000 people showed up. 9,000! Yet only a few years after Hosea’s daughter rescued the soldiers and another young man, he passed away.
Ida was crestfallen but she was determined to do as her father had wished and continue to care for the lighthouse with her mother, the new keeper. But then things got even worse. By 1877, her mother’s health started to deteriorate rapidly. Ida took on full care of the lighthouse and the job of a carer. It wasn’t enough. In 1878, Ida lost her mother, too, to cancer. In these two deaths, Ida had been left the lighthouse.
She was now its keeper and its sole protector…
The Joys of the Keeper
Ida took to the job of keeper very well. The tourists kept coming as did hundreds of gifts a week, letters and even marriage proposals. One came from Captain William Wilson of Black Rock and they did marry, but separated after two years. From then on, she would reside at Lime Rock as the sole occupant of the light house, alone there for the rest of her life. Well, if you ignore the visitors. By this point, she was known by one simple moniker: The Bravest Woman in America. She was a celebrity. Never mind shaking hands with the President, she was also active in the suffrage movement and enjoyed visits and debates with the leading suffragettes and suffragists of the day, including Elizabeth Stanton. It’s amazing to think that a brave person like Ida was not even allowed to vote, yet. But she became something of a symbol for the movement, a prime example of a woman’s inherent strength.
Ida kept the light alive. One of the few female lighthouse keepers of her day, she enjoyed a salary of $750 a year. Try $20,000 in today’s money. She was also very rich, it seems, a salary she was given as a reward for her heroics. In fact, regardless of gender, she was the richest lighthouse keeper in America for a very long time. And still she continued to save lives.
In 1881, she was awarded the extremely rare Gold Lifesaving Medal from the government, the first woman to receive it. Once more this was for rescuing two soldiers from Fort Adams who had attempted to walk across the frozen waters but had fallen through the ice. The two men plunged into the dark terror beneath and once more, Ida raced to save them. She became known as the best lighthouse keeper in America. I don’t think there was much in the way of competition.
‘Rescuing from drowning at various times at least thirteen persons and particularly for the rescue of two soldiers who had broken through the ice near Lime Rock.’ Gold Lifesaving Medal Citation.
Ida kept saving lives until she was very old. Her last recorded rescue was at the quite frankly astonishing age of 63. A friend was rowing out to the lighthouse, stood up in her boat and lost her balance; she fell into the water, Ida panicked as she watched from the shore. At once, sprightly as ever, she jumped into her boat and rowed out to rescue her friend, hauling her aboard. Her last act of bravery came in saving the life of a friend.
In 1906, she became a life beneficiary of the Carnegie Hero Fund, receiving a pension of $30 per month. About $860 in today’s money. It was a life well-lived and perhaps a life taken too soon. On October 24th, 1911, Ida suffered a stroke. She died peacefully in her sleep at the age of just 69, which isn’t that old by today’s standards, but all things considered, what a life she lived and what a legacy she left behind…
Epilogue
The people Newport, and America at large, were stunned to learn of Ida’s death. Every single vessel in Newport Harbour tolled for Ida on the night of her death, the flags at half-mast throughout Newport. Her body was displayed at the Thames Street Methodist Church where a whopping 1,400 people visited to say goodbye, including many lighthouse keepers. She was later buried in the Common Burying Ground, her grave truly stunning, in a prominent location so all who pass by can see. And, in 1924, Lime Rock was renamed, Ida Lewis Rock. And rightly so. She does rock…
Even better, very recently a road at the famous Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, the final resting place for Presidents and war veterans, was renamed in Ida’s honour for her daring rescues at sea, the first woman to receive such an honour.
Ida Lewis is a person for whom there are not enough words. Her courage and her bravery were completely astonishing but completely within her gentle yet tenacious nature. She gained a reputation for diving into stormy waters and rowing out to save many lives. Because she was so modest, she never kept a record of how many lives she saved. We can prove she saved 25 lives but how many more? We’ll never know.
There are no definitive records of Ida’s rescues and she was too modest to recount them herself, though some were documented in local newspapers and at least one garnered national attention…
– Lydia Nicols.
She was visited by the President, given awards and had to fend off baying fans eager to see her. Today her name is remembered in the lighthouse, now Ida Lewis Lighthouse, which… STILL STANDS TO THIS DAY! YES! Well done Rhode Island, so many other states would have demolished it… but no, it stands as a testament to one of history’s most remarkable women. Yes, she is not the household name she deserves to be, but I think she should be. At 12, she saved lives and she saved her final life at 63, that’s half a century of pulling people from the water. She’s completely inspirational. She’s proof of the tenacity of human spirit and courage beyond imagination. She was honoured with a Google Doodle in 2017 and so many people wondered that day… who? Well, THIS is who.
For 54 years, she lived on Lime Rock. At least 25 lives were saved by her hand but probably a lot more. Deeply humble and refusing to speak of the lives she saved, Ida came from an era when women were expected to marry, sew and have children. Ida caused controversy because she didn’t do any of that. Nah, she thought. I’m a woman of the sea. And that’s where I belong. Whilst she may have been forgotten today, make no bones about it… Idawalley Zoradia Lewis not only had the best name in history, but one of the bravest souls.
A hero and nothing less.
It’s important to remember that being a lighthouse keeper required unwavering courage, sheer physical strength, constant diligence and a willingness to put one’s own life on the line. Ida was so dedicated that supposedly she would rush into inclement weather without shoes or coat so as not [to] waste a single second. Her life and legacy were not only an honour to research and illustrate, but truly a source of inspiration.
– Lydia Nicols (artist and creator of Ida’s Google Doodle).
Toodle-Pip :}{:
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Images (click to enlarge): 1) Ida Lewis, 2) Her most famous rescue, in 1869, when she rescued two soldiers, drawn here as depicted in Harper's Magazine (clearly, she had no time to put shoes on but she did have time to put a hat on), 3) The famous Ida Lewis Rock, once Lime Rock - you really can see Ida jumping from this into her boat, a building still standing proud to this day.
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