Kellys-stuff.com

The assistant's dog

 

ALL works, which appear on these pages, are the sole property of myself and may only be reproduced with proper acknowledgment to the artist. © All rights reserved.

E-Mail

On this day we had all been noticing that the weather had been slowly deteriorating. We hadn't thought much about this as the weather constantly changed and this was just another boring day. Again I don't know why but for some reason I went over to see the assistant keeper for something, possibly just to talk or to give him the log book or some other reason. I knocked on the door and was invited inside. I could see the kitchen and from where I was standing I could see bloody footprints made by their dog and asked, "What is up with the dog?" He didn't know so I asked if he had called the veterinarian or anything. He hadn't so I asked if it was ok if I did. He said he didn't have any money but I knew something was very wrong. I went next door and I called the veterinarian and finally found one that was still in his office and would look at the dog if I could get it there within an hour or two. This was again late afternoon and the wind had come up southwest and the swells were building up around the island. In my mind the landings were already bad and deteriorating. Somehow I convinced Boothbay that the conditions weren't bad and that I needed to take the dog to a veterinarian. I got the dog in the boat and got to Newagen and carried the dog to the car and headed for Rockland where the closest veterinarian I could find was located.

The drive from Newagen is something like 50 miles or so and when I got there I couldn't find the office and rode around Rockland a while finally finding the place. I took the dog in and the veterinarian wasn't very friendly and informed me that he was almost out the door and wouldn't have waited much longer and was unpleasant but I needed his help and just apologized as best I could. He checked the dog explaining that he thought when I called that the dog was probably fine and I was over reacting but after a very brief examination he determined that the dog was very near death. It should be noted that the dog was about 6 or 7 months old. It was male German Shepherd and a very beautiful dog. The veterinarian gave the dog some shots and told me the bad news. One was that the dog was in a bad way as mentioned and from the symptoms and what I told him we knew that he had somehow gotten into the rat poison left by the exterminator that had recently been to the island. It had been mentioned that the poison was placed all over the island to the assistant keeper and he said he watched the dog and the dog had to go out for obvious reasons. I know it was an accident but the dog just wasn't watched closely enough. The veterinarian said I had to leave the dog and I did just that. He also said that the chances of survival were very bad but not totally non-existent.

While I was off in Rockland the wind had been increasing and the sea building for several hours and by the time I got back to Newagen and out to the lighthouse the surf was crashing on the boat slip and the whole bay was nothing but whitecaps. This would be the worst I had ever tried to land the boat in and I was more than apprehensive about it.

Those on the island were standing out in the cold and I sat a short distance offshore waiting for the one chance to get the boat and myself on the slip. I moved the boat in as close as I dared without having the waves grab the boat and toss it on the rocks. I was quite sure that if anything happened I would be lucky to get ashore and knew that it would take some sort of miracle to save the boat if I missed the slip. I don't think anyone can understand how bad this place was with the waves washing and breaking at the weird angle to the boat slip. I sat there trying to figure the cycle figuring the 7^th wave supposedly being the bad one. It appeared that it would not be possible to hold the boat with the motor as the waves were so large that they stopped just short of the boathouse and then receded well beyond the 15-foot length of the boat. I knew I had one chance to just ride one wave in and land on the slip. Because the waves washed at an angle and if you look at the picture the waves were washing from that flat portion to the rails in a southerly direction. The small boat kept drifting in the wind and I had to circle a couple times and keep trying to get the boat exactly where I thought it should be before committing myself. There was no room for error.

After several minutes I got about where I wanted for about the 5^th time and waited just a few seconds for the incoming wave to lift the stern of the boat. As the wave got just under the motor and stern of the boat I opened the throttle and was riding the wave toward the ramp. The motor kept the small boat somewhat headed in the right direction but I could feel that I had very little control. It was a strange feeling and I was just short of terrified as I approached the slip.

The wave was so large that I was actually looking down at the assistant keeper who was poised to get the hook attached to the boat knowing that if he didn't get the hook in and hold the boat that I would be swimming or worse. About halfway in it was obvious that I was far enough to the right so that I probably couldn't hit the flat part of the slip. I didn't have much control and if I turned too much then the wave would just capsize the boat and throw me out when it hit the rocks, slip, or came in contact with anything solid. You hear of people telling that they say a little prayer in these instances but there is not time for that. The boat at this point is out of control and surfing down the wave like a surfboard heading for the slip and I was hanging on just hoping things would work out. As I got very close possibly a boat length from hitting the slip I somewhat debated trying to back out but knew there wasn't time. I prepared to crash n the rocks and leaned far to the left side of the boat and held the motor with one hand and with the other tried to brace myself for the impact. It was over in just a second. The keel on the boat, being quite deep, somehow caught the outer rail of the slip and because of my weight flopped over to the left tossing me on the floor of the boat and landing between the rails half on its side. The assistant immediately got the hook into the boat and held on for all he was worth and my wife engaged the winch throwing me on the floor again as I was about halfway up from lying on the floor and I went down again. The boat sat safely between the rails and I got out of the boat. I guess it was lucky. All I really got out of that was a badly bruised knee. The assistant was quite impressed, as this was the worst the conditions had ever been and we had been through some interesting times getting to the island. He pulled the plug on the boat as the boat had taken about 6 or 8 inches in the bilge with that trip.

This is where I want a fairy tale ending but the dog didn't make it. He had ingested too much poison and did not make the night. All my effort was in wasted other than the fact that I felt that I had given the whole mess my best effort.