Kellys-stuff.com

The scary times

 

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My wife and I had been there a while and our son was something over a year old. Naturally as he was the only one and we were young we worried considerably about him and something happening. It must be remembered that during the winter and even in the summer we often couldn’t get off the island if the seas were rough at all.

I was sitting watching television one evening and I remember that it was dark out and he was something over a year old and a toddler. He walked into the living room and tripped on something smashing the side of his face on the heavy coffee table in front of me. I picked him up and the blood was pouring out of a gash beside his eye. We both panicked because of our location as well as the problem at hand. We called the Coast Guard and they immediately dispatched a boat. The outboard motor the Coast Guard couldn’t afford to give us would have saved us half of the time or more to get to the Doctor. The boat finally did get there and my wife took him to the Dr. and got it stitched up and even came back that night, which was unusual for them, as it was an extra trip for the guys at the station. All was fine and the eye healed but it was an interesting wait on the island.

One winter we had a small northeaster and it smashed a couple windows on the side of the house as we had shutters and one of them had somehow come unfastened and broke the outside storm window. I was in the engine room a few days later trying to repair the window. I was pulling the old glass out and slipped and cut the side of my hand. Don’t' know if it was day or night but I do know it was another trip to the Dr. in Boothbay and the chief was very unhappy. I guess it usually took about an hour to an hour and a half to actually get to the Dr. I am just glad the cut wasn't really deep and only bled for a little while. I got it stitched up so it wouldn't scar but a week later something happened in the boat and getting onshore and I got it wet and it opened back up the day after I had had the stitches taken out.

Another time the assistant drove his fist through a window. Not exactly sure how it happened but he got cut quite badly so Boothbay came and took him the Dr.

One evening just before dark I got a call from Boothbay Harbor and the assistant keeper was supposed to return to the island. I said the landing conditions were poor and that we should wait until the next day. Because my say was so important the boat arrived with him shortly after dark. The wind was blowing about 25 knots and the thermometer was stuck on zero. Back then nobody noticed or paid much attention to wind chill but that is about 40 below. Anyway the boat arrived and blew the horn. I was dressed in pairs of jeans and an extra jacket over my regular one and pushed the boat off to go and get the assistant keeper. It was overcast and very dark is about all I remember except that the small boat was throwing spray all over itself and me. I got to the boat and picked up the assistant keeper and some things he had brought and we got back on the island. It is an incredible feeling knowing that if anything at all happens at night in that freezing cold that the Coast Guard boat would not be able to get you if anything happened because of the darkness and the rocks and surf. Totally foolhardy for the coxswain to make me go out. I wouldn’t risk a court marshal for that but I probably should have just refused to go. The boat and I were totally covered with ice from the ride out. We were going with the wind on the way in so it was relatively dry. I never got wet because it was so cold that the spray just froze when it hit and I didn't get wet until I got inside the lighthouse and into the heat.

 

These small incidences on the island were why I felt it so important to have an outboard motor. We actually did have one after a while but not when my son was hurt. I think my son getting hurt is what finally prompted the letter to Senator Smith to see if she would help with the conditions on the island.

 

I do now that I was never really in charge of the island and was dictated to by the Chief in Boothbay Harbor.