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Time moves on and one day the Welfare Officer arrived, wrote lighthouse keeper Harold Taylor. This was Peter Edwards. He had been a keeper himself and pressure through the Union had brought about the introduction of this post.
He took me to one side and told me that because of certain happenings on Alderney, Captain Cloke E.B. had decided that I was the right man to be sent there. Alderney was a particular plum of a station as one lived on a well populated island with access to most of the finer things in life. Apparently there had been several light stoppages, because keepers who had had too much to drink had fallen asleep and omitted to wind up the lens weights.
The following day the Superintendent arrived on station for one of his regular inspections. During the course of this he told me that he was transferring me to Alderney, where he wanted me to 'rule the place with a rod of iron' He went on to state that the place was run by a bunch of drunken cowboys which had to stop.
I was disappointed at this sudden move as I had barely been at the Nab a year. I cannot be sure if Cronin was still there but certainly Ken and John Watts were. In fact they had been aboard the day the tanker had run into them, and Ken was very sore about the fact that John had been on watch at the time, saw it coming and never roused him till the last minute, and he had not had time to get out of bed. I had gone shore earlier that day.
The move also gave me considerable inconvenience. I had accumulated a lot of gear expecting a long stay. I do not recall the actual circumstance of the relief, but I have mentioned that we did on occasion make use of the Pilot Boats for the relief, although the usual steamers that were out for a week at a time had been withdrawn by now and it was a question of contacting the Pilot Launch that operated from Portsmouth or Ryde.
They however would now only come out if they were expecting a ship around our time of relief, although it did have the advantage now that if that were so we would be taken rapidly back to either of these two towns and deposited. In the past we would have had to stay aboard the steamer until at their convenience they transferred us to a launch bringing out fresh pilots.
I had a huge amount of gear to go, so whether I elected or had no option I went aboard our vessel and was taken down to Newhaven where I was put ashore before the ship went on to the new Royal Sovereign. My journey home was not too bad, only having one change and being able to alight at Lancing, West Sussex, the nearest station to my home.
Here I would like to re-cap on several things, one is uniform. Every year we were supplied with a Uniform Form to be completed. Eventually a set of uniform would arrive. If it did not fit it was pointless to return it for alteration, as these were so slow it would not reach you before the next issue.
Whether it was as a result of the P&I Report, but there started a system whereby we were allotted a certain number of points for Uniform issue and one could order what one liked within that points limit. Un-used points would carry on to the next issue. This now allowed us to order wet weather clothing which was not available before. Let me qualify that. Most stations had certain amount of waterproof clothing.
It was usually in poor condition and only fitted 'standard sized' people. On towers it was rarely used and was old and perished and no one saw the need for replacement. Islands usually had a good supply, but usually only two sets. There were rubber boots in sizes 7 or 8. Being 6 feet 4 inches and size 11 shoes, I never found I could use this equipment.
When I had been on the Needles (lighthouse) I had remarked upon this to the Superintendent and he had told me to put in a special report asking for my specific size boot. These were issued, with a note informing me to accept these a 'personal issue' and I was to take them from station to station with me. They happened to be green and very obvious.
Not long after I had got them the Superintendents son who was a junior officer on the relief tender visited the station whilst handling cargo. He noted the wellies and remarked upon them and I told him the story. He said that he was unable to get any suitable sized boots issued for himself and would make a similar application.
The outcome of this was that I was then told that the boots would be a station issue, but I ignored the instruction and took them with me. I cannot remember now if it was on this second visit to the Nab that I renewed my acquaintance with Bob Heriot and met Busby.
Harold Taylor's tour of duty at the Nab was completed in July 1970.
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