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During the early days at this station, the Nab Lighthouse had been de-manned with a view to it being made automatic, recounted retired lighthouse keeper Harold Taylor. As the result we were being constantly visited by DLF personnel who were bound for there, as they came to see Richard and hoped to be allowed to use the Supernumerary quarters and so save their expense allowance for booze and other excesses.
However I had had specific instructions that these people were not to use the quarters. The result of this was that Richard housed them and I suppose received a useful crop of money for the inconvenience. The DLF were onto a good thing through their Clerk of the Works. The scheme of things was that all profitable scrap was taken back to Penzance, this funded a big 'piss up' around Xmas time and the surplus spoils were shared out.
So greedy were these people, that through Richard they had learned that there was a roll of lead sheeting in the station store. They came to me and stated that they had been instructed to take it back to Penzance. I told them that I had no intention of letting it get into their hands unless they could produce a letter instructing me to do so. No such instrument was forthcoming.
The gardens at the station had been neglected for some time and some of the hedges had died, whilst others were unwieldy overgrown. It was a slow job getting them in order, but I did manage to get some of the growing area going, although once the crops started coming up I really learned what a rat problem we had.
I had discovered we had a problem early and set two mouse traps in my house yard every night and invariably one of them had a mouse or young rat. When my crops disappeared as soon as they broke surface I got the local district health officer on the job, but I feel that they were so set in the ruins of old buildings on the site that he was fighting a losing battle.
Oddly enough during this time I was taken very ill, for which we never established a cause. Later when the Superintendent visited me I learned that Richard's wife was suffering from a similar illness. I had known she was ill, but did not know it's nature.
I was not very pleased when I was to learn that the Superintendent was insinuating that we had caught the illness from each other. On reflection I feel in some way that the rats may have been responsible as we both had a bladder or urine illness and rats cause Biles disease.
Brian was successful with his aims to get to a Rock and went to the Needles, his place was taken by Graham Ibbertson, another who thought without him the world would cease turning. He was very resentful about his transfer, as he had been moved to make way for the P.K. from Longships, who made the personal approach to the Welfare Officer Doug. Paveley, in my presence at a Sennen Relief.
The keeper in question being that creep Whaley, who had barely spent any time on rocks and was desperate to get away. Due to the ease with which he managed it, I often wondered if he was a Mason, because Doug. was known to be one.
Graham quickly got into cahoots with Richard. I would not say they plotted against me, but they conspired as to what they would or would not do. There was also the question of stores, for which many were available to all keepers.
Richard would have the keys to these during my absence from station and he would make a point to examine them then come demanding this or that, which sometimes I exceeded to, as perhaps they had only just come in and we had been waiting for some time.
However he did not take kindly to the fact that sometimes perhaps we were provided with a gallon container which had to supply the whole station. He seemed to think that he should have that container and everyone else wait for the next supply.
Strictly speaking however the material was issued for the purposes of the station, but if supplies could be stretched to cover other uses, we did. Initially Graham was helpful, or perhaps I should say he was prepared to accept and give assistance, such as when I helped him get his garden in order etc., but when it came to getting the station in order his help was not so forthcoming.
Around the same time we had several changes of command at East Cowes depot. The Superintendent Mike Tarrant retired suddenly, or was he pushed. Tom Catesby had only recently retired as Chief Superintendent which he carried out from East Cowes instead of the more usual Harwich.
We now came under the jurisdiction of the Harwich depot. We had a succession of skippers without ships, made Assistant Superintendents. The main responsibility lying upon the shoulders of one Hookway, a known psychopath, or at least one who had frequently to enter the Mental Hospital. Therefore we had no cohesive means of communication, and quite frankly no one was interested.
Whilst all this was going on, the year was passing and we were getting round to Visitors time again. Usually shore stations make a bit of spare cash out of this season and St. Catherine's was considered to be one of the better ones. My own personal feelings towards them was that I would sooner not have them, but Trinity decreed we should accept them.
In the past; from records left by the out going P.K., they had accepted two school bookings a day. The schools wrote in over the winter months and I had continued to accept them and the keepers were prepared to as well. Once the season had started however and the change of hands had taken place I found that there was a change of mind.
Coming back from town on my day off I would frequently find 'Station Closed' notices exhibited despite schools having been booked in. Sometimes there would be disgruntled school groups clustered about the gate wanting to know why, having made a booking they were not allowed in, and relating such stories that they had been in contact with other schools that had found themselves barred, but later on passing having found other visitors admitted.
The top and bottom of it seemed that Richard and Graham had hatched a plot to close the building to visitors at times schools were expected, because the tipping return was poor. Then re-open after the schools had left in order to make a more profitable afternoon.
There were quite a number of unofficial ' Station Closed' notices about. These I removed and locked away as there had been numerous letters abhorring stations being bedecked with all manner of unsightly signs. This had little effect as the keepers, except Rodney scrawled their own signs and exhibited them.
Towards the early summer my wife and I were going on holiday, she was also in the throws of an illness for which she had been prescribed a different medicine. We were only into our second day of holiday when I received a telephone call to report back to duty.
No reason was given. It was a pity that I had let anyone know where I was going. However, the holiday was not having the desired effect as my wife was becoming increasingly ill. We were able to cancel our booking and headed back to the island arriving late Saturday.
First thing Sunday we went to our local doctor who took my wife off the treatment he'd prescribed and put her on to some remedial course to counteract the dehydration she was suffering from the previous treatment. Some years later we discovered that had she continued with that course she might have suffered a ruptured gut.
It transpired that the reason I was called back from leave was that Rodney, had damaged his knees whilst washing down the tower steps after visitors, thus bringing the station staff down to two. Head Quarters were unable or unwilling to provide anyone from the pool.
I took considerable exception to this and let them know unduly. However in the interim, complaints had been received at Trinity House about the refusal of visits by schools, and coincidental with my return, Hookway was down to investigate.
The blame was laid on my shoulders and he told me that he was transferring me back to the Bishop Rock. In the present set up I was not against it, only in the manner in which the enquiry had taken place. It was against all accepted standards, and I complained about it to the House and the Union.
Again the latter was totally uninterested. Before the beginning of the enquiry in which the only persons present was Hookway and Goodley, I had brought to their attention the lack of a stenographer. I was told that this was unnecessary as they were making a recording from which notes would be taken.
When I received written notice of my transfer; which was now to be to take up residence at Withernsea Lighthouse, and be transferred to the Inner Dowsing for duty. There was no accompanying transcript of the proceedings, or reply to the manner and conduct of Hookway in particularly, who I had complained about.
Whether they themselves found that this was abusive and un-ethical is only speculation. Their reply to me was to the effect that the tape had been defective and nothing was recorded. I replied to them, in the circumstances that being the case no action should be taken and their actions inexplicable.
This must have had some effect, for the finding was originally that the transfer was to be at my own expense, whereas I believe I got all due expenses except the upheaval, which I believe they can withhold anyway if a second transfer takes place within a twelve month. Hookway had decided that in future keepers would conduct schools over the station, but limited it to two schools per week.
During those last few months I had on St. Catherine's I was attending Newport Hospital and having tests for various things, during one of these visits I met the past Chief Superintendent Tom Catesby, who was also there for tests.
Although during my service he had never been encouraging, he gave me the compliment in my wife's presence, that during his service he had never had cause to complain or be anxious in the manner I ran the stations I had been in charge of. He had indirectly made a similar gesture during the problems I had had earlier with Ken Chapman at the Needles.
Whilst at this station there were many trials and tribulations. One of which was due to the de-manning of several stations, it resulted in monitoring equipment being placed at this station to supervise so called automatic stations (LANBY Buoys).
One of these was the Owers, the other was the Shambles. The Nab had not come on line yet. However this monitoring equipment was housed in the main tower. We carried out our watch in the watchroom in the grounds.
It was therefore quite a trudge when the alarms sounded, and on most occasions it was only a question of acknowledging the fault as nothing in particular had gone wrong. Just some electrical or radio disturbance that had triggered the alarm. The Technical boys were also experimenting with some equipment down in Freshwater Bay, which also might have been a problem.
We also did weather reporting for the Met. Office. This was an hourly occurrence day and night. In general not an arduous task, but coupled with some other events it could become irksome, although I found it a light relief. It did mean going down the garden to look at thermometers and rain gauges etc.
Later they put some of these instruments on remote recording and we could read them from the warmth of the office. Other than the clouds and visibility. For several years they had been trying to install a searchlight for calculating cloud heights, but the National Trust, who owned nearly all the land around the station threw up objection following objection and approval was still not in sight when I left.
Apart from various other reasons for absence from station Trinity had decided that it was time they gave keepers their first refresher course as to changes in equipment that were taking place. We were selected in groups to go to Blackwall for this. I went early in the new year of 1983.
Not long after this it was also decided that we should go through a Safety Course, due to the new regulations on Health & Safety. This involved going to Greenhithe for a week and going through fire and sea rescue procedures as well as a limited amount of first aid, resuscitation and injection practice.
About the same time as these changes came about we were to have trouble with the Income tax people. They had suddenly decided that the practice which Trinity had opted for us in 1966, where they paid our travelling expenses was illegal and henceforth we would have to pay tax on our travelling expenses. This seemed ridiculous, but I will cover this more later.
The day for our departure arrived. It was August Bank holiday week-end. The gear was packed on the Saturday and we left soon after lunch on a sweltering hot day. We were booked for the five o'clock boat, but being ready, we visited the ferry hoping to catch an earlier one without success.
As the result, we had to find some shady bower in which to sit as we had the car piled with plants and a budgie. I believe in the end we did get a boat a hour before intended and made our way to the wilds of Wiltshire staying the night at my daughters. The following day we headed north to Yorkshire now named North Humberside, staying the night at a very pleasant little pub in the village of Aldburgh, before taking the narrow tortuous road into Withernsea.
Harold Taylor's short tour of duty at St Catherine's was completed on 31st July 1983
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