Harry's Tales: Overboard
Harry Wroth found himself swimming with the fish when he went to sea in a small boat.
My girlfriend and I spent a delightful ten day holiday with her uncle's family at Onrus. This was between Christmas and New Year in 1952.
Staying in a seaside cottage across the road from us was Harvey and his family. Harvey was brother-in-law to Uncle David. Harvey's cottage was named "On the Rocks" and it literally was. All of us were keen amateur fishermen. Harvey owned a small two and a half metre long punt powered by the smallest Seagull engine that one could imagine. The anchor rope was about 15 metres long and the anchor was any suitably sized rock tied on at the end of the rope.
The next morning, Harvey and I were going to try our luck.
A beautiful, windfree summer's morning saw us setting out down the launching and landing gully between the rocks. We had an unexpected last minute passenger sitting in the boat between us. The stranger was keen to fish and Harvey could not say no, this being the festive season.. We only had about 15 centimetres freeboard, for the stranger was a very big man.
We had fished with very light tackle for about three hours and had a small bag of red reef fish. Suddenly I noticed that my line was stretching out just below the surface and that the anchor rope was also strung out. We had lost our "anchor" rock and were drifting. The gentle swell was about two metres high. Harvey started the small outboard and headed for shore. I was hauling in the anchor rope when I looked to seaward. There was something which seemd to be as big as a block of flats bearing down on us!
These were huge breakers, and they capsized the boat. I then saw was the boat far above me. I could not move my arms. I was entangled in the anchor rope. Strange thoughts flashed through my mind. Was this it?
I do not remember the next few seconds. Fortunately I managed to break surface near the upturned boat. The stranger was screaming, saying that he could not swim. Harvey, whose hat had never even got wet, was busy trying to hang on to the motor and boat.
I got the stranger to hang on to the upturned boat then swam towards a professional fishing boat which was coming to our aid. I had our anchor rope in one hand and grabbed a rope cast to out by our rescuers. They could not come too close as we were over a reef, with breaking seas all around us. We luckily all managed to reach shore none the worse for our experience.
In the heat of the moment, or maybe hangover, Harvey had forgotten to find the landing gully before heading shoreward. We were amateurs after all.
