A parade was held in her honor in Newport on Independence Day, followed by the presentation of a sleek, mahogany rowboat with red velvet cushions, gold braid around the gunwales, and gold-plated oar-locks. The Life Saving Benevolent Association of New York sent her a silver medal. Articles also appeared in Harper's Weekly and Leslie's magazine, among others. Lewis's fame spread quickly following the 1869 rescue, as a reporter was sent from the New-York Tribune to record her deeds. She kept no records of her lifesaving exploits. During her 54 years on Lime Rock she is credited with saving 18 lives, although unofficial reports suggest the number may have been as high as 25. The soldiers at Fort Adams showed their appreciation by collecting $218 for her.īecause of her many rescues, Lewis became the best-known lighthouse keeper of her day. One of them later gave a gold watch to Lewis, and for her heroism she became the first woman to receive a gold Congressional medal for lifesaving. With the help of her younger brother, she was able to haul the two men into her boat and bring them to the lighthouse. Ida ran to her boat without taking the time to put on a coat or shoes.

Lewis's mother saw the two in the water and called to Ida, who was suffering from a cold. The two soldiers clung to it while the boy was lost in the icy water. A snowstorm was churning the harbor's waters, and the boat overturned. John McLaughlin, were passing through Newport Harbor toward Fort Adams in a small boat, guided by a 14-year-old boy who claimed to know his way through the harbor.

Her most famous rescue occurred on March 29, 1869. Lewis made her first rescue in 1854, coming to the assistance of four men whose boat had capsized. Ida Lewis - lighthouse keeper - Source Wikimedia Commons The extra pay was given 'in consideration of the remarkable services of Mrs. With a salary of $750 per year, Lewis was for a time the highest-paid lighthouse keeper in the nation. Ida finally received the official appointment as keeper in 1879, largely through the efforts of an admirer, General Ambrose Everett Burnside, a Civil War hero who became a Rhode Island governor and United States senator. Her mother eventually died of cancer in 1878. By 1877 her mother's health was failing, leaving Ida with increased housekeeping and care-giving responsibilities. Her mother was then appointed keeper, although Ida continued to do the keeper's work. Lewis and her mother tended the Lime Rock Light for her father from 1857 until 1873, when he died. Responding to criticism that it was un-ladylike for women to row boats, Lewis said that 'None – but a donkey, would consider it 'un-feminine', to save lives.' She became very skillful at handling the heavy rowboat. She rowed her younger siblings to school every weekday and fetched supplies from town as they were needed. By the age of 15 Lewis had become known as the best swimmer in Newport. Since Lime Rock was almost completely surrounded by water, the only way to reach the mainland was by boat. Lewis expanded her domestic duties to include caring for him and a seriously ill sister and also, with her mother's assistance, tending the light: filling the lamp with oil at sundown and again at midnight, trimming the wick, polishing carbon off the reflectors, and extinguishing the light at dawn. After the family had been at Lime Rock for less than four months, he had a stroke and became disabled. Her father was transferred to the Lighthouse Service and appointed keeper of Lime Rock Light on Lime Rock in Newport in 1854, taking his family to live on the rock in 1857. Ida Lewis was born in Newport, Rhode Island, the oldest of four children of Captain Hosea Lewis of the Revenue-Marine. (Febru– October 24, 1911) was an American lighthouse keeper noted for her heroism in rescuing people from the seas. In the US, periodic maintenance of the lights is now performed by visiting Coast Guard Aids to Navigation teams. The earliest record of a named individual in a formal capacity as a lighthouse keeper was William, a member of the now famous Knott family, who was appointed to the South Foreland lighthouse near Dover, England in 1730. Electrification and other automated improvements such as remote monitoring and automatic bulb changing made paid keepers resident at the lights unnecessary. Lighthouse keepers were needed to trim the wicks, replenish fuel, wind clockworks and perform maintenance tasks such as cleaning lenses and windows. Lighthouse keepers were sometimes referred to as 'wickies' because of their job trimming the wicks.

A lighthouse keeper is the person responsible for tending and caring for a lighthouse, particularly the light and lens in the days when oil lamps and clockwork mechanisms were used.

Lighthouse keeper history