![]() ![]() They often work with the lens and light functionality, though lighthouse keepers were even more essential when oil lamps powered the devices. In 1881, she was awarded the Gold Lifesaving Medal from the United States government for her bravery.A lighthouse keeper tends and cares for a lighthouse, helping guide ships and boats on major waterways. This heroic feat earned her national attention as she was featured in Harper’s Weekly and was later granted a silver medal from The Life Saving Benevolent Association of New York. Lewis then rushed from the lighthouse in her boat and was able to pull both of the soldiers out of the water and row them safely to the lighthouse. In the middle of a cold March snowstorm, two soldiers were sailing near the lighthouse, guided by a teenage boy who claimed to be able to navigate the waters. The boat overturned as a result of the snowstorm, and all three of them were thrown overboard into the icy waters. When the two sheep owners ran into trouble while searching for their lost animal, Lewis went into the water to rescue both the men and their sheep from drowning.Īlthough these were certainly impressive feats of bravery, Ida Lewis’ daring rescues went relatively unnoticed until 1869, when she performed her most famous rescue. The following year, she reportedly saved not just two men, but a sheep as well, from the icy waters. In 1866, when a young soldier was sailing in a skiff near the lighthouse and got overturned, Lewis once again performed another feat of bravery, spotting him from the lighthouse and pulling him from the water. A group of four boys was sailing near the lighthouse when their vessel capsized, and Lewis went out to rescue them. Long before she even officially became a lighthouse keeper, Ida Lewis performed her first rescue at sea when she was only 12 years old. Finally, with her mother gone (and with a few strings pulled by Senator Ambrose Burnside, an admirer of her work), Ida Lewis officially became the keeper of the Lime Rock lighthouse. But in 1877, her mother’s health began to fail as well and Lewis then cared for her mother in addition to keeping the lighthouse.īut while the majority of the keeper duties had now fallen to Lewis, her mother officially held the title of keeper until her death in 1878. In 1873, her father died, and the official title of keeper was passed on to Lewis’ mother. The pair performed all of the duties of the keeper of the lighthouse while also tending to Lewis’ newly disabled father and her ill younger sister.įor a few years, Lewis performed the majority of the keeper’s tasks, including filling the lamp with oil, keeping it lit throughout the night, and extinguishing it at dawn. The responsibility then fell to young Ida Lewis and her mother. But just a few months into his tenure, he suffered a stroke and could no longer tend to the lighthouse. ![]() Ida Lewis was born in Newport, Rhode Island in 1842, the daughter of Captain Hosea Lewis, the keeper of the Lighthouse Service at nearby Lime Rock. This is the story of Ida Lewis, the lighthouse hero of old Rhode Island. She started saving lives at sea when she was just 12 - and didn’t stop until she was in her 60s. ![]()
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