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SHIP O' GRACE
(S4x40)
J McAdam Lifeboat Dances
1- 8
1s dance down the middle & back up on own sides
9-16
All dance a Grand Chain
17-24
1s+2s & 3s+4s set & dance RH across ½ way, set & dance LH across
back to places
Popular variation: -
25-32
1s set out to right & in to 2
nd
place as 2s set out to their right & up to
1
st
place, repeat with 3s then 4s, all turn RH
33-40
1s followed by 4s+3s+2s lead up to top & cast back to places 2 3 4 1
Authentic version: -
25-32
1s make arch & dance down 1 place 2s dance under & up, repeat
with 3s then 4s then 4s+1s turn LH
33-40
1s & 4s lead up to top, 1s casting to 4
th
place & 4s casting to 3
rd
place
The Lifeboat Dances was published by Rae, Macintosh & Co. Ltd in 1955 and all proceeds from the sale of copies
were devoted to the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. The book also included The Montrose Reel (Montrose is
the 2
nd
oldest Lifeboat Station after Sunderland RNLI Lifeboat Station which is proud to own the tag of the "Oldest
Operational Lifeboat Station" in the Great Britain, having been established in 1800 and taken over by the RNLI in
1865).
In 1826, Grace Darling, the 7
th
of 9 children, was 10 years old when her father became lighthouse keeper at
Longstone Lighthouse on the Farne Islands in Northumberland. Grace helped her father to rescue the survivors
from the SS Forfarshire when the ship was driven by a storm onto Harcar rocks on 7
th
September 1838 and she was
awarded an RNLI Silver Medal for Gallantry. Gold medals were awarded to both Grace and her father from the
Royal Humane Society and £50 from Queen Victoria.
Grace died aged 26 on 20 October 1842 from TB and she was buried in the churchyard in Bamburgh,
Northumberland.
The authentic version of the last 16 bars depicts 1st couple as the lifeboat going over the waves (arch over each
couple) but apparently arches were not popular with ladies and their hair-dos and so the alternative version
quickly became 'standard'.
