Ida Lewis

Lighthouse Keeper and Sea Rescuer

Idawalley Zorada Lewis-Wilson (née Lewis) 1842 – 1911: Newport, RI

"None but a donkey, would consider it 'un-feminine', to save lives." --Ida Lewis

An Ode to Ida Lewis

Ida, do you still, like a mother, gaze anxiously on

When the wind calls up its tempest song,

And do you still watch o'er your favored bay

And recall the years long passed away?

Do old Malbone and Longfellow and James drop by

To fill your nights with their gay replies,

While Luce and Mahan plot history's page

From the hallowed halls of another age?

Do ever you stroll round to Coggeshall's mews

And up Castle Hill or to Cliff Walk's view,

Or roam "Bloody Alley" and the famed "Old Fifth"

Where rum, chowder, and johnny cakes scent evening's mist?

Do Trinity's bells ever charm you from sleep

To greet the full sails of a homeward bound fleet,

Can our "Red Pants Bravado" arouse the lost smile

When the waves were your family and "The Light" was your child?

Remember the secret you whispered then

On the eve of a gale to the ear of a friend,

"By gosh, had it not been for sailors and fools,

Lime Rock and I would have had nothing to do!"

April Grant found this effusively mysterious poem in 2012, copied out fair in calligraphy on the wall of a house in Haydenville, MA. I have since found it on an obscure sailing webpage but with no attribution. If anyone has a reference or citation, please contact lynnoel1@gmail.com.

Ida Lewis (© Barry Finn)

Ida Lewis left Newport at the age of 15,

Moved onto Lime Light Rock in the 1850's

Her father was a captain, now keeper of the light

Soon the duties fell on Ida to keep the lamps burning bright.

Her sisters & brother she'd row to school every day

In a small open lifeboat across the rough bay

From his wheelchair her father would watch through the storms

In horror as Ida would row the children back home.

Renowned for her skills no matter the weather

At swimming or rowing no man was her better

At the age of 16 she had saved 4 mens' lives

By the time she retired she had saved 25

There are saints on the water & demons in the sea

One & all they praised Ida for her great bravery

On the very night this women died, who had lived on the shoals

Every bell on evry boat in Newport did toll

Now they've renamed that rock the Ida Lewis Rock Light

And in her honor today the lights are still burning bright

But sometimes at night when it's rough & it's cold

Some claim to see Ida pulling boys from the foam.

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