|
 | |  | |
Harold Taylor who had been with the police force since the late 1940's tells this story to us.
An incident I vividly remember during 1955 was the rescue at sea off the Worthing beach at Easter. I was on patrol on the east side of the town centre. I had just come out of the station after having had tea and relieved in the front office, the time must have been around 6.00 p.m.
I was walking down Chapel Road, when the fire sirens sounded. The fire station was also on my beat and not far away so I decided to walk along there to see what the incident was. As I did so, and walking past the press office, I saw the fire engine return and the local photographer/reporter came away from the station towards his office.
It so happened that recently he had photographed me in action for a story about my walking exploits and an article for the paper.
We got in conversation and he invited me into the press office to get a copy of the photograph, at the same time telling me that the fire call had been a false alarm to a fire on the beach.
As we left the office the fire alarm went again and we were able to talk to the crew as they left. They were going to an alleged fire of a fisherman's box on the beach near the Beach Hotel.
This was not on my beat, but I knew that the man whose beat it was had a conference point nearby in a few minutes time so I decided to go there as well and inform him and find out if any other action was needed.
He did not turn up, so I received the call and was instructed to go to the pier where an ambulance had been sent, and direct it to the Beach Hotel. During my progress to both these places I had noticed in the gathering evening a helicopter flying around over the sea.
No ambulance arrived, so keeping in a position that I could spot the ambulance in the event it arrived later, I ambled along to the Beach Hotel where there seemed to be a lot of activity. When I got there, there were a number of people carrying a stretcher up the shingle beach.
When I asked if I could assist it was suggested I go down on the beach and keep the public away from the helicopter. This I did and contacted the pilot and his winchman, both of whom were in a very distressed condition.
It transpired that they had been on a rescue mission and as they came in to land a member of the public had run into the tail rotor and had his head smashed in. In the process this smashed the tail rotor and the helicopter was out of control and crash-landed.
I persuaded the two fellows to go up to the ambulance, but they were reluctant because of the helicopter. They eventually relented and left me in sole charge of the machine and their belongings.
The tide was well out and some way from the vehicle, but my thought was what would happen if the tide came in, so I paced the distance to the water's edge.
One person who came along to offer his help was a local council employee who had been fishing on the pier. I persuaded him to go to the Council yard for spades to dig out the wheels which had settled into the hard sand up to the axle as the helicopter had vibrated till its engines stopped. Then a local bus driver came along and offered his services.
During the summer Worthing's beaches used to become inundated with seaweed, which rotted on the beach and gave off an awful stench, which was complained about greatly.
To counteract this the Council employed bulldozers to push the weed back into the sea, hoping that the wind would change and the sea would carry away the evil smelling weed.
The bus driver offered to drive one of the bulldozers and tow the aircraft up the beach. I could not give him permission to do so and got him to stand by. Eventually the Superintendent came down to the scene. He apparently was attending a function at the Beach Hotel.
I was able to tell him what the situation was, the offers I had received and the fact that the tide had turned. He authorised the use of the bulldozer by the bus driver, and went back to organise a group of people from the function to help get the aircraft up the beach.
Another constable, PC Poland, had joined me. When I could wait no longer for the encroaching sea I decided to dig the wheels out with my bare hands, as the shovels had not arrived.
Once I had done so, the idea was to lift the machine out of the holes and push it up the beach, but I had not bargained for the hydraulic wheel struts. As we lifted the body the wheels stayed in the sand.
I therefore bent down under the front of the plane and heaved up with my back, taking some of the weight, whilst I got them to slew the plane round rolling one wheel out of the holes at a time.
Unfortunately, facing one way and being unable to see the other, it transpired that PC Poland had got himself in front of the plane's axle, with the result that when the plane came free one side he fell on his backside and the axle fell across his legs, trapping him.
We then had to free him before we could get the other wheel free.
From then on chaos took over. The penguin suited guests from the function arrived and a few other youthful exuberants. They started to push the craft towards the promenade at a 'hair brained' pace and out of control.
I left the push when I could not control it any further despite calling for caution. I saw one penguin loose his grasp and fall in the sand and the tail wheel of the plane passed over him. I helped him up, but he seemed none the worse for it.
When the plane got to the steep shingle bank it could be pushed no further. In the meantime Ford Aerodrome had been contacted to send a 'Queen Elisabeth' to collect the plane, but as it was Bank Holiday, there were no personnel to handle it and calls had to be sent cancelling their leave.
In the same period the bus driver who was going to drive the bulldozer had some problem through the vehicle being immobilised, however he was able to get the machine started and to use the winch. A wire was attached and he commenced hauling up the beach about the same time that the water reached the aircraft.
The nations press had arrived. There were twelve London taxis lined along the kerb taking photos of the occasion, but there was little chance of anything being published as there was a National Press strike at the time.
In fact because of this, the only publication that produced anything, other than the local newspaper, was a monthly 'illustrated' magazine. The same photographer who I had been with earlier in the day, Clive Roberts, was later to gain photographic awards and awards for news photography on TV.
The helicopter eventually reached the promenade and was stowed on the QE where it was to repose all night. I left the scene after 11.00 p.m. instead of finishing at 10.00.
The outcome of my effort was that I received a commendation, as did Poland, although his total efforts were a hindrance.
The story that evolved afterwards was that this family of six was cruising along the Worthing seafront towards Shoreham when they ran into rocks, which tore the bottom out of the boat.
At low water there are some very rough parts along the coast hereabouts, but then any sensible person would not be that close in.
They took to the water and their plight was spotted. The ridiculous part about it is that if they were that close in they should have been able to walk ashore. As it turns out, the lifeboat and helicopter were called in to service.
A helicopter pilot from Ford had developed a net for scooping people out of the water. You must remember the rescue service was in its infancy, and although they had winch hoists they had not developed the swinging winch man. Also the helicopters were only small two-seater Sikorskys.
At the same time that the lifeboat was called, some youths launched a rowing boat from the beach and a group of policemen, with the assistance of local Special Police Sergeant Cheal, launched that gentleman's own fishing boat that was left on the beach.
In the meantime the helicopter had lifted four people from the water, but as he came in to land on the fourth occasion a willing helper ran under the tail rotor. The person killed was a competitor in the annual Easter Hockey Tournament that took place.
After the fourth person was landed it was established that there had been six people on board the boat. In the meantime Sgt Cheal's boat with it's crew of policemen came across the three youths in their boat, which was now swamped because they had put to sea without the drainage bung in.
They had recovered a young boy who was able to tell them that there was another person in the sea.
The ungenerous policemen took the rescued boy and left the three youths in their waterlogged boat to find their own way back to the beach and later they were given no credit for their achievement.
The police then went in search of the last victim of this boating tragedy and after dusk found an elderly gent quite happily floating around.
Harold Taylor West Sussex, 2001
| |  | |  |
To add a comment you must first login or join for free, up in the top left corner.
|
|
