Stories from 1958-59!

Here are some memories of Ralph's tour of duty at the Cape from 1958-59. I will upload some photos that he took after he sends them to me.

Brewed up from the Ralph Janes Tour of Duty 1958-1959

Environmentally Unfriendly

Three days after I arrived on July 21st, it was decreed by the OIC [Doug Atkinson]

that due to the continuing drought we would take advantage of the low water level

in the dwelling roof run-off tanks and clean them out. I being the smallest of the lot

got to go in initially, and discovered the remains of 3 rats in the bottom! We never

got over-excited about this, but after cleaning it up did set up a temporary tank and

hauled buckets of sand to fill it. Must have been real clean and healthy rats, as no-

one became sick!

Excitement on The Rock

On August 7 the Alex Mac brought in a crew of two to dismantle the iron top of

the old lighthouse and replace it with a nondescript ‘airport’ rotating beacon. This

work progressed steadily for several days. On the 10th, they were torching the iron

plates off in manageable chunks and letting them fall on the ground at the base of

the concrete tower. I was on duty and would hear one thump after another as these

plates fell. Soon after one tell I heard a loud “POOF” and ran outside to see flames

15 feet high where these had been falling. This was the area where the old oil from

the Kohler generators had been dumped (terrible environmental practice, but at the

time, who cared?) I grabbed a fire extinguisher and raced out to do my duty. After

3 extinguishers, we got it under control. Dennis Stossel who was the horizontal

champion of the Cape during my stay, was roused out of bed to help fight the fire,

and then said that we had started it to get him up!

Overdue

Boredom weighed heavy on most of us at the Cape, and the chance to get off the

‘Rock’ for a few hours was like the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow! So it was,

that on Nov 24th 1958, three souls including the keeper set sail for a ‘3 hour tour’

(somehow this sounds familiar, but I know it wasn’t the SS Minnow). So, Lex, Jean

and Dennis headed for Woodruff Bay around 1 pm. I was working the dayshift, and

Dennis was on the evening shift which started with the 5pm ob. I finished the 4pm

ob and then went down to the house to begin supper as it was my week to cook. No

sign of the adventurers, and at 5, Doug the OIC went up to do the ob for Dennis.

Starting to get rather dark now and Doug spoke with Mrs. Boumazel Snr who was

worried sick and advised us that they had ventured up to the next bay beyond

Woodruff [Howe], the same one they had been to before and ended up rowing back

from because the useless Scott-Atwater outboard failed again. At ten to six, Doug

went back up again to do the ob. On his way down, he thought he had seen a fire on

the headland and we confirmed it with my binoculars. We gave about 20 short

flashes with our flashlight, and then saw a fire out on the water so decided they

were on their way back (or on fire). At five to 7pm, the intrepid explorers

arrived back to reap the wrath of the OIC, who would have been on the spot for

letting them use the DOT outboard motor, if he had had to call in Search and

Rescue.

Shake, rattle and roll

Just before 9 am on January 15/59, the Rock was shaken by a brief but strong

earthquake. I was getting ready for bed as I had just come off my second graveyard

shit, when I heard this noise which at first I thought was an unusually heavy gust of

wind shaking the dwelling. As the noise and the shaking got worse, I thought it was

either the kitchen or hall oil stove re-igniting alter being blown out by a downdraft,

but as it got worse, and I was thrown off my feet onto the bed, and the house shook

like nothing I had ever experienced, I realized that it was an earthquake. It only

lasted about 10 seconds. but towards the last of it the house was literally lifted up

and then dropped. About this time, I became concerned that the ‘Rock’ had many

fissures, and sincerely hoped that it didn’t just split apart and fall into the sea! Dan

Davis came hopping out of his room and said that his bed was moved across the

room. Doug’s wife came running over with her young son Michael. It was over by

then, but we had a pipe break near the hot water tank so had to quickly turn the

main tap off. The Light Keeper’s house swayed so much that the ceiling boards

would separate and allow the accumulated dust to fall through. OIC Doug was on

duty up top, and thought it was the ops building oil stove exploding, so ran out to

turn of the oil! Some china was broken, but otherwise we and the Rock survived

intact. An aftershock struck at 9:30, but that was just a nimble, but nonetheless,

unnerved us all!

Whale of a Tale

Sometime during my tour, Lex and I were out just offshore of the Rock on the east

side, fishing. We had the 14 foot clinker and had rowed rather than bother with the

motor. We were fishing for halibut on the bottom, so had enough line out to reach

that far. I was using a new rod I had purchased just for this purpose, and Lex had

some real heavy stuff sort of like twine. He elected to tie his line to the seat of the

boat, so if the fish took off he wouldn’t lose his rod. A few weeks earlier we had

seen a pod of Killer Whales pass by and were a hit unnerved by this. So, whilst out

there on the briny, fishing, we saw this whale surfacing not too far away to the

south, and then down it went. Within a couple of minutes it surfaced again, only

much closer. Panic set in, and we decided to get back to the wharf so I started

reeling my line in and Lex started to untie his. Alas, the knot he had made was tight

and the whale was real close, so he hauled out his knife and cut the line. Then, he

grabbed the oars to start quickly rowing but on the first pull the oars were not in

the water so he fell ass-over-tea kettle into the bottom of the boat. Now the whale

surfaced just yards from our boat and we were still laughing from our antics, but

managed to get rowing and away from our inquisitive friend - whom I now believe

was probably a Gray whale.

Notes

Dennis - Dennis Stossel

Lex - Lex (Alexander) Bournazel the Light House Keeper. He was also keeper of the 14 foot clinker boat there while we (DOT) were the keepers of the unreliable 5hp Scott Attwater outboard, so everyone needed to be in agreement if a trip was planned.

Jean - Lex’s wife & thay had a 2 year old son. Also lost a baby while I was there to sudden death syndrome (crib death).

Dough & Olga Atkinson - the RO & Wife, & they also had a small child

Bullar & Clementine Bournzel - Lex’s parents who he had asked to come out & be his assistant keeper. They lived above Lex & Family.

Merwyn Tinck was there for the first part of my tour, & then was replaced by Dan ???????.

Bill Treston - old peg legged assistant keeper until the senior Bournazels arrived in Sept with Dougs wife & child. He used to bath in the ocean on the west side of the rock!