Grace Vernon Drake-Brockman, commonly referred to as Grace Bussell, was a woman from Western Australia. In 1876, as a 16-year-old, she was involved with Sam Isaacs in the rescue of the SS Georgette, for which she was awarded the Royal Humane Society's Silver Medal.
Grace Bussell
SS Georgette was a steamship built in 1872. She is best known, especially in Irish-American circles, for the part played in the story of the Catalpa rescue in April 1876. While the events surrounding her shipwrecking eight months later are dramatic and did capture the imagination of the local press, the ship itself had little effect on the coastal trade. Though heralding the way forward in the change from sail to steam on the long Western Australian coast, like its predecessor SS Xantho, Georgette had a short and ill-starred career and sank soon after its arrival there.
SS Georgette
Rescue of SS Georgette's passengers and crew (Illustrated Sydney News, 3 February 1877)
The SS Georgette memorial at Redgate Beach