A Night to Remember
by John Harman

At the time of the flood in 1953, I was 20 and still living at home with my parents on Island Wall.  That particular night I was late going to bed and had just settled down when I was awakened by a neighbour shouting up to my window.  The message and warning was...

"Get your Dad up, the tide is already at the high water mark and there is another 2 hours to go". 

My elder brother George's first fishing boat "Welcome Messenger 2nd" was up on the Vigilant Beach as he had bought a larger one, the "Mon Reve". Dad and I hurriedly dressed and rushed out to the beach with coils of rope to secure the vessel.  The waves were already crashing around her.  

Dad climbed up on to the Vigilant and attached some lines to her and another to a telegraph pole at the top of the beach. Then we ran home.  As we did so, the water was rushing past us down the hill at Marine Terrace.  

I quickly asked Dad, " How much water do you think we will get in the house? "About a couple of feet" was his reply.  

Whilst Mum took the cat, the oil stove, kettle and tea pot upstairs, Dad and I lifted the sofa up on to kitchen chairs and stacked all we could on top.  In no time the linoleum was lifting off the floor, and the water was almost to the top of our deep boots.  

Before retreating upstairs, I wanted to save Mom's treadle sewing machine. On top of it always stood an aspidistra plant which I now had in my hands.  I blurted out to Dad " What shall I do with this?". The reply came quickly. "Give me that, I'll water that bloody thing"... and he promptly threw it out the back door.  

With the rush of water that flooded in, we hastened up stairs, dragging the Singer sewing machine behind us. 

Although it was dark we could see from the front window that the Neptune was getting a pounding, and the spray was reaching twice it's height in the air.  

The Neptune Pub - Spray reached twice its height 

This went on for some time till we decided to settle down for a while and wait for dawn, knowing that the water was just below the upper floor.

Unbeknown to us, George was aboard the "Mon Reve" all that night.  He had moved her away from the quay to the middle of the harbour, where he rode it out...... with the sea level at the top of the quay and the waves crashing over it. 

 Above: The Mon Reve at the harbour in quieter times 

In the early morning, he had come ashore and was along Island Wall..... with long breakwater planks from the beach. These were normally used for breakwater repairs but he placed them between the roadway and the top of the ground floor bay windows. In this way, they provided residents with a bridge to dry land from the bedrooms of the properties that lie below the bank on the south side of the road. 

One of the properties belonged to my brother Ray and family.  A well known picture of this rescue appeared in the Daily Mirror and showed him helping the family from an upstairs window.  

It was well into the afternoon when George came for us with a row boat. First I had to tie the cat up in a shirt before I could hand it over to him.  This was no easy task, as, on seeing water, it went berserk.  

After leaving the house, Mom and Dad went to stay with George at the Council Estate and I stayed with friends at the top of Tankerton Hill (a safe place). Ray and family moved in with my sister Jacqueline and Jim at Manor Rd. 

It was to be several weeks before we could return home to live as the amount of silt and mud in the home was enormous.  Things that one would normally used to clean up with, were filthy themselves.... or had floated away. 

After moving back home, there was an abundance of mice looking for a drier abode. My bike ran beautifully for a week or so.... and then seized up solid! 

At the time, I was working at Eric Brown's cabinet shop in Hillview Road.  He also had a furniture store in the High St. near D Wests.   After the Flood, much of the furniture needed to be restored.  One of the problems was that drawers could not be opened as the wood had swollen.  The smell was awful.

John Harman
Sidney
British Columbia
Canada

Our Note:

Sadly, we cannot show that Daily Mirror photo for reasons of copyright but you may well have seen it in the years that have passed since 1953. It shows the plank resting on the Island Wall pavement at one end and the "roof" a bay window at the other. Beneath it, some 3 feet of floodwater swamps the front garden of the property.

Balancing on the makeshift "bridge" are George Harman and Ray Harman's daughter, Judy. Meanwhile, Ray is standing on the roof of the bay and assisting his wife (Olive) and son  (Geoffrey) to escape from an upstairs window. The use of a plank wasn't lost on the editor of The Mirror and the caption commented.....