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"
WHAT I REMEMBER OF EYC". K.C.CLARKE.
"NOBBY". 1923 - 2004.
When
I first came to the Club ( 1947 ) the lightship ( "Garson 2"
) had only recently been purchased and "Garson 1" had been
laid up in the Middle Creek. I was told that she had been used by a
group of doctors who kept small animals on board on which they used
to experiment.
A member
called Joe Elvin, a retired printer, lived on his boat all through the
war and with the help of his shot gun kept intruders at bay!
The "Garson
2" was purchased from Trinity House in 1945 for £140 and
was delivered FOC to the Club Saltings lashed alongside the THV "Patricia".
In those days the only lighting aboard was by oil lamps.
The engine
room of the lightship was lined out with lead and the member who removed
it all sold it for his own gain,or so it was said.
With strong
northerly winds "Garson 2" would come out of her hole and
when the tide receded would take up a large list of about 40 degrees.
There used to be a piano in the saloon but I only heard it played on
two occasions. Because of the listing the piano was pinned in place
with a row of nails.
Dave Wallace
and I were trapped on board the lightship when the great tide of 1953
lifted the ship so high that the gangway left the bank and hung straight
down. Many dinghies went over the sea wall (raised since then) and yachts
came out of their mud berths ( there was then no fill, just marsh and
creeks) and remained there when the waters receded. They then had to
be man handled or dug back into their mud berth. High tide remained
for many hours. Belvedere was flooded and the marshes where the Gypsies
lived.
The first
dance ever given on the "Garson 2" was in the 60's and a junior
member provided a gramophone and home built amplifier. Dance records
were obtained from the membership at large.The centre table in the saloon
was dismantled to give room to the dancers.
About
that time Dave Kennard brought an epidiascope and showed photos of members
yachts of yesteryear. Some time later Robbie ( Michael Robinson ) brought
a proper slide projector and a load of slides showing life aboard some
square rigged ships. These he had borrowed from the Maritime Museum.
In the
50's I was part of the crew who laid the paving stone causeway, replacing
the former wooden one. This was really too narrow and was eventually
replaced by the M1 under the direction of Jimmy Green. Some lighters
broke adrift and sat on this new wooden causeway and the Club had a
large section professionally rebuilt at the expense of the lighter owners.
( These
earlier causeways extended to low water mark from a position ashore,
just astern of "Folgefonn" for launch/recovery of dinghies.The
lighter roads extended from where they are at present upstream of EYC,
to roughly where our bottom moorings are ). During this period Fred
Lapslie ( the Club's White jacketed Steward ) and his wife used to supply
a supper on Saturday night plus a breakfast and a roast dinner on Sunday
( all served on a white linen tablecloth ) and lots of tea, all for
10 shillings (50p ).When I was thrown out of my lodgings I lived on
"Garson" for several days until I got somewhere to live.
At the
bottom of the lighter roads was an old hulk called "Birchrock"
( an ex. wooden square rigger used for storing coal) on which lived
a retired Captain ( possibly W.Johnstone, joined EYC 1940 ) who kept
watch over the loaded lighters. He used to visit the Club on a Saturday
night and spin fantastic sea yarns aided by the oil lights and a wood
burning stove, a tortoise.
Sometime
in the 60's there was an accident involving Howard Smith and Bill Frost.
They had climbed the rigging attached to the lightship's mast to fasten
some wet sails to dry out. The rigging snapped and they fell to the
deck from about 10 feet ( 3 metres ).Howard injured his ankle so badly
that he could not walk. He was carried on an improvised stretcher to
Bill Frost's "bog boat" ( a Hastings Lugger) This happened
on a Bank Holiday weekend and although Howard rested all day Sunday
he could only walk with improvised crutches made from flotsam ( a broken
paddle ).
He was
put in a wheelbarrow and taken to the car park at the end of Manor Road
( where the barrier is ). Bill Curwood drove him up to the Savoy Hotel,
London, where he was convinced that he could get a room.
In his
muddied state, dressed in airforce battledress, walking with the aid
of the driftwood crutch he was not given one! Not undaunted he asked
for a telephone and booked a room at the Astor by name and got in there.
Sailing
up river just above the town off the southern sewage outfall and treatment
works, I met a wall of soap suds extending right across the river some
four feet high! This supposedly came from a firm which made home perm
kits. All kinds of chemicals were in the river then which discoloured
the paint on boats, and was known as the purple plague. Cutlery and
brasswork was also tarnished, not just afloat but also houses in Upper
Belvedere, Charlton etc, not just riverside properties!
The pollution
was so bad that a hand put 2 inches ( 5cms ) down in the river water
became invisible due to the filth. Any members ( and general public
) swallowing riverwater were treated in the local hospital and often
had their stomachs pumped out.
On about
November the 5th we used to have a firework party and one of the set
pieces was a Catherine Wheel made up of rockets. Another was rockets
"back to back", the top one igniting the lower one which then
hurtled back to earth.
Early
one Sunday morning a Cadet Member banged on the door of the bar where
I was sleeping to say there was a corpse fully dressed lying across
the causeway. I got dressed and verified this find and checked that
the man was dead. I phoned the local police and they turned up with
a coffin on wheels and took the man away. Later I found out that he
had been the watchman on the lighter roads opposite Erith Town and had
been out celebrating prior to falling in.
On another
occasion whilst dinghy racing I found a bloated corpse in the water
and towed it into the town causeway. The man was an awful sight as his
eyeballs were gone. I left my name with the police and in due course
got some salvage money. 10 shillings ( 50p ) I think.
Another
time,again midweek, when I had a half day off there was an exceptionally
low tide. This caused the boats on the outer trot ( about where the
middle trot is today,only two trots then ) to touch the bottom.Going
searching along the exposed river bottom I found several anchors and
rowlocks in good condition, plus many tools lying in the peat.
A further
midweek incident was when an old fashioned sludger ( which carried treated
sewage out to sea for dumping ) coming upriver rounded Crayfordness.
She then had an electrical power failure with the rudder set to turn
to the ship to port and the engine running strongly. The ship managed
to miss all the yachts on the moorings as she came to rest on our foreshore.
Without electrical power the control of rudder and engine was lost although
the crew let go both anchors run free from the lockers, slowing her
down, as she approached the shore . When this happened there was an
impressive display of sparks from both of the ship's hawse pipes. This
all happened at half flood. Alan Beckett was also present at the club
when this happened.
*------------------------------*
Addendum
As a result
of the last newsletter the following was received from Peter Rowing
I will
always remember Nobby Clark and how he first crossed the channel to
Calais with Alec Grey, who told him to steer southeast for the town
hall. After a few inexplicable course changes by Alec, the tower on
the Calais town hall loomed out of the mist and they sailed into the
harbour. Nobby didn't care to ask Alec how this had been achieved as
he was an awkward old cuss, however it was explained. At that time there
was an air ferry for cars, that flew out of Lydd airport, war surplus
freighters that struggled into the and flopped down in a field by Calais.
Every time one flew over, a course correction was made, better than
GPS.
Alec Grey is
long gone, I remember him for his immaculate sailing gear, an old mackintosh
with a bit of sisal string tied around the waist. Hardly fit for Cowes
Week old chap, and tea with the Queen, but then there were quite a few
eccentric characters around Erith at the time, as there probably still
are
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