Seawatching
Nightmare #2 - BIG waves
Date: October 1956
Place: North Gare
breakwater, (then in North Yorkshire, now Cleveland)
Seawatchers present: Among others: D.G Bell (aged 22), Alan and Tony
Vittery (aged 14 and 17)
During a heavy
passage of Pomarine
Skuas the three lads were seawatching on North Gare breakwater. The
weather was dry and sunny but strong winds had led to a heavy swell;
without any warning a
freak wave came along the breakwater and covered the avid young
seawatchers, dragging with it a rucksack, thermos flasks and other
sundry items but thankfully no optical
equipment. Clinging to an iron rung in the breakwater with one hand and
to the youngest of the Vittery brothers in the other the oldest of the
seawatchers felt the drag of the cold waters, opening his eyes to "see"
that they were completely submerged. Miraculously all three survived -
but that is not all. The
crazy thing about this story is that after some stamping around to get
the warmth back in their bodies this intrepid trio continued
seawatching as if nothing had happened. Who wouldn't? With the poms
passing in good numbers it
takes a lot to leave....
Undeterred,
another survivor
of this freak wave emptied the seawater out of his motorcycle helmet
and roared off to find a Leach's Petrel on the other side of the
estuary.