Hurricane Carol 50th Anniversary Transcript of Part 1

Subject 1:

15.

Interviewer:

You were 15?

Subject 1:

Yep.

Interviewer:

And what do you remember about it?

Subject 1:

Well, I remember leaving, we lived at Jack’s Restaurant on East Beach, up there. In the morning, very early. My mother put a milk bottle of water on the table. She said, “I wonder if that’ll be here when we get back.” We left, and I spent the whole day with Kenny Trip up at Hicks Bridge, around Hicks Bridge there. In the height of the hurricane, I was on Hicks Bridge and I stayed there by myself.

Interviewer:

And you were 15 years old?

Subject 1:

15.

Kenny was up his house. But I remember on the south side of the bridge, looking over, you’d see like a 17, 18 foot boat come up. And the water was splashing on the bridge. There’s little cement cut waves there. I’d look over, and see that boat, and it’s slam in the bridge. I’d run as fast as I could the other side and look, and it all splinters. Big boats were going ashore, trees are falling. It was quite howl-y.

Interviewer:

Did you have any warning that this was coming?

Subject 1:

Oh, yeah, we knew. When we left in the morning, they knew.

Interviewer:

How did you know?

Subject 1:

I don’t know. Apparently, my mother must’ve got it on TV, or whatever. I don’t know. But it was one of them days that you could feel something, even as young as I was, feel something.

Interviewer:

Did she take you to Hicks Bridge so that you would be safe?

Subject 1:

She took me up there, and she went to work. I always hung around with Kenny Trip and his mother, right there, right near the bridge. And that was it. I hung around there.

Interviewer:

And what was left of your house when the hurricane passed.

Subject 1:

It was Jack’s Restaurant. They let us back about, I’d dare say, a couple hours before dark. We got down on Horseneck Road. And we looked down towards it, and there was nothing on his beach. It was just like you took a bomb and blew it up. Poles. There was nothing left.

We went down amongst the rocks, and what was all debris, and we got to Jack’s. And the south side of the wall was basically knocked out, pretty well. The building, this was a big two-story restaurant. Jack Wilson [inaudible 00:02:06].

We went out back, and it was, some of the studs left, just holding it up. There was a set of steps that went up to the second floor, where we lived. And I don’t know why, to this day, but there was only about that much of the steps ripped out. So, we got on the steps and went up. And that milk bottle full of water I told you about was still on the table.

But we hung around there for a while. Then, we had to get out of there, of course. Couldn’t stay there [inaudible 00:02:32]

It was just-

Interviewer:

Did you feel personally threatened that you or your mother or somebody that you knew wouldn’t survive?

Subject 1:

We would’ve survived [inaudible 00:02:43]. But they said a big hurricane. What do you think?

From the south side of that building to maybe where the water was, at that time, 75 feet. What chance would you have? If we’d have stayed up there, we would’ve survived, because it was all intact. Nothing was ripped, just the wall, and course, everything across was all moved.

Interviewer:

But during the course of the hurricane, when you were over at Hicks Bridge, and you saw this thing sweep through, did you ever think, then-

Subject 1:

I wondered. I figured, well, our home was gone.

At that time, my mother and father were split. I’d lived with her some, and lived with my father some. That happened to be when I was down with her.

Oh, yeah. At that time, I figured, Ma said, “Well, we aren’t going to have nothing to go back to.” But we did. We were very fortunate.

Interviewer:

As a 15-year-old boy, was this the worst thing that you saw? Was there a part of you that thought this was a real adventure?

Subject 1:

Well, I don’t know. Well, it was adventure and fun when I was on the bridge seeing all this. That was just before I started on the big fishing boats. Right after that, I started on the big fishing boats.

Now, wait a minute now. Wait a minute. Let me see. No. I am all confused here, dear. I’m confused.

Interviewer:

Well, Hurricane Carol was the second worst hurricane [inaudible 00:04:08]

Subject 1:

This is 1954, we’re talking.

Interviewer:

Mm-hmm. ’54.

Subject 1:

So, that’s 50 years ago. I’m 65 now, so that would make me-

Interviewer:

15.

Subject 1:

15.

Well, I was fishing, yeah, before that, on the big boat from November. Yeah. I was fishing before that. But it was an experience I’d never seen.

Interviewer:

Do you think that we’re due for another one?

Subject 1:

I got a feeling we are. I have a feeling we are. Yeah. Like I say, probably the other day there, in 1962, we was on the old Ivanhoe. He was 72 foot long. And it blew.

The boat, the Esconova, a Coast Guard boat was off in the distance. And my skipper talked to the skipper, there, and they had had a gust of wind, 130 some mile an hour. She was 383 foot long, the old Esconova. And we was maybe four or five miles away. When she’d get down to sea, you couldn’t see her. The Ivanhoe was 72 foot, and that. It would stand right on end, and the waves another 15, 20 foot above the bow break, coming.

Crew:

It started in 1940.

Interviewer:

I would cut with him when he said-

Subject 2:

Everything started the night before. I was half crocked. I was at Phil White’s, getting drunk. And I saw the people that were living on the island. They were in a quonset hut, Henry Harney’s wife and mother and kids. And I brag that, “If you’ve got a bad hurricane come up…” I didn’t know, but I said that. And they said, “We’re kind of afraid.” But they lived in a quonset hut on Gooseberry.

Interviewer:

Year round, or for the summer?

Subject 2:

No, just the summer. He was a paint salesman [inaudible 00:05:54].

I said, “I’ll come down and make sure you’re all right.” About 8:30 the next morning, I went across the causeway. It wasn’t bad then. Because the thing popped out of nowhere.

Interviewer:

What was it like at 8:30, when you went out?

Subject 2:

It was almost placid. It wasn’t strong at all. I got over there. And I tried to talk to them for a while. They gave me a cup of coffee. And I put my hand up on the roof and I could feel it vibrating. “This ain’t going to last, I said, “Bolts are going to pull out. It’s going to be all hell going to break loose.”

Interviewer:

How quick did it happen?

Subject 2:

Oh, within minutes. I would say, 10 or 15 minutes. The wind came out of nowhere. I said, “I’m going to have to get you out of here,” I said. “Just not going to be safe.” I took his mother, his wife, and two girls in my car, and we started across the causeway. I had an old Buick. And just look at it, and it would get wet and stop. But we got about halfway across. And a lot of sand blown, and water. It wasn’t really big waves, but a lot of force. The car was starting to do this stuff. I told them to lower the windows, and drop down so that the wind would go through the car. We got all wet, but it was worth it.

Interviewer:

You lowered the resistance.

Subject 2:

Yes. Right.

I got across. And it got up to high ground on John Ree Road, and stalled, stopped dead. And I made the comment that this car only stalls when it’s dry.

Interviewer:

Okay.

Subject 2:

I took him into Kerr Mill at Fall River. I didn’t know where to take them. That’s where I took them. Because it looked like a good place to put them.

So I came back, and-

Interviewer:

What time?

Subject 2:

Probably 11.

And it was really whipping up. And the water was up, and the wall were starting to move.

Interviewer:

You saw it starting to move?

Subject 2:

Yeah. I was here. In fact, I’m in that picture.

I helped him. There was Father Reid and some other kid. We found a skiff. We tied a lot of lines on it. And we know that Jim Hickey was in there yet. The two barrels were taken out earlier, before it started to move. And it was on a marsh. But then, there was a gully, and then another marsh. The only thing that saved Jim Hickey was that half of it caught on the marsh. And you see him at the window. So, there was a joke that was going on that it was a rat and Jim Hickey on the table. And we saved the wrong one.

Interviewer:

Because he was a bartender with tabs on everybody.

Subject 2:

Well, no. That’s a whole bunch of crap. He was the swamper, between the toilets and the floors and stuff, washing glasses and whatever. But he did tend bar on occasion. And I actually ran a tab with some of the fishermen.

Interviewer:

Were you ever concerned about your own life?

Subject 2:

No. I didn’t have time to do that. I only kept my promise. I said, “I’m going to get over there.” Not that I was a hero. But I told you I would do it, so I’m doing it. And the thing that I enjoyed about five years after that, one of the girls got married, and she came up right in front of everyone, gave me a big kiss and says, “I’m thanking you for this day. Because without you, I wouldn’t be here.”

Interviewer:

So, some people think you’re a hero.

Subject 2:

That made me feel good.

Interviewer:

Who were the heroes that day?

Subject 2:

Pardon?

Interviewer:

Who were the heroes that day?

Subject 2:

Everybody. Nobody had any fear. It’s a hurricane. So what? And the people who were in trouble, we helped people that were in trouble.

For instance-

Interviewer:

69 people lost their lives.

Subject 2:

Yeah. Not here, though. There was a couple here, somewhere.

But Shorty Leach had an outboard place across the street. And the night before, he called me up about 3: 00 in the morning. I was still up. And he said, “I need some help to move all these outboard motors, and all the tools, and stuff.” He had leased a barn up on the hill here, and we moved everything out. As it happened, it got demolished the next morning. The storm destroyed the building, but he didn’t lose any of his equipment. And it went like that.

Oh. I got to tell you about the little kid. We got across the Paris Bridge. The far end of the bridge was washed out, that old bridge.

Interviewer:

The old bridge, here.

Subject 2:

Yeah. It’s where the, what do you call it is now, back eddie. That’s where the ramparts are going. And there was a gasoline station that had just been built not too long before that. And we got across the bridge. We said, “How are we going to get across to the mainland, again?” And we looked. And we saw the air hose from the gas station was floating in the water. And we grabbed that. We had water up our bellies. Went across.

We got halfway down the beach, and we come across this little girl. She’s got a great cat in her hand. But it was dead, drowned, dead. We didn’t want to tell her the cat was dead. “Where’s your parents?” She says, “There’s up there.” She’s pointing the dunes. We found out later that the little girl was missing. They were looking for her. So, somebody came and took her away. But we had our fun, just the same. Going along, we see this refrigerator upside down, tip it over, and full of beer. And we all enjoyed a nice little-

Interviewer:

Little hair of the dog, the next day.

Subject 2:

Yes. Yes.

We were plain people. No heroes. None of that. And we liked our beer, and stuff.

I lost my skiff that day. It was in a mud dock. And it disappeared. Four days later, it came down the river upside down with the motor sticking up in the air. I didn’t lose the thing out of that skiff. I took the motor off. I put up in a barrel of fresh water, and let it sit overnight. And the next day, I took it all apart, cleaned it all up, put new gas in it, away it went. [inaudible 00:11:29] I didn’t lose a thing. That’s about it. That was a bit of a day. In fact, I said that-

Interviewer:

That’s terrific.

Subject 2:

But [inaudible 00:11:40] to 138 mile an hour wind is not a big strong wind. I don’t think it’s ever gone that steep, even in the worst hurricane. He exaggerated a little bit. But I don’t want to tell him that, and make him mad.

Interviewer:

No. It’s already been shown.

Subject 2:

Yeah.

Interviewer:

And they had two weathermen on, so they could tell it was.

That was great.

Subject 2:

But that’s the second time I was on TV.

Interviewer:

Oh.

Subject 2:

There was another hurricane.

Interviewer:

Why do they call you Psyche?

Subject 2:

If you were 16, and a young girl, you’d know.

Interviewer:

Okay.

Subject 2:

I used to hold a girl’s hand, tell her fortune, all that stuff. I did a lot of that. So, they told me, because I was so smart. I knew the answers to everything you ever want to ask. That’s why they call me, Psyche.

[inaudible 00:12:22] photograph [inaudible 00:12:22].

Interviewer:

So, tell me how old you were.

Subject 2:

[inaudible 00:12:28]

Subject 3:

I was 12, that June. And it happened in August 31st, of course, of ’54. I was 12 years old.

Interviewer:

What do you remember?

Subject 3:

I remember everything, it was very vivid in my mind.

Interviewer:

Well, they all said that nobody was expecting it. There was no warning for it.

Subject 3:

There was no warning. Because I can remember, succinctly, that in the morning of that, watching the Today Show in New York on TV.

Interviewer:

Dave Garaway.

Subject 3:

Dave Garraway said it was going to hit Long Island at 3:00 in the afternoon. That point in time, I lived in the Wharf House, right across the road, which I can show you, second floor, looking out at the water. The water had many colors, all muted, in a tan, yellow, whatever. So was the sky. That was the reflection of the sky, of course. And it was blowing about 40 miles an hour. At 10:00, it was blowing 80. At 10:30, we had to leave the house.

Interviewer:

You were 12 years old. When did you get scared?

Subject 3:

I was scared, but I had adults around me. It was my whole world at that point in time. My entire world. It was my summer thing. I was originally from Florida. And had the fortunate ability be to live with my grandfather and my mother and father, had an apartment down here, at the Wharf House, right across the road from this facility.

Interviewer:

And this was underwater.

Subject 3:

Of course. Yes, it was.

Interviewer:

At what point did your parents, your grandparents, say, “We’ve got to leave”?

Subject 3:

My father was a plumber, and he was in Forup, and couldn’t get back to Westport. My mother was here. And my grandfather, George Leach, adopted grandfather and adopted grandmother, decided it was time to leave, especially when water was to your knees.

And up the road we went. And we went up here about four or five houses to a duplex just up road, here across, from Paul Donato’s house, it was Pete Donato’s house, at the time, and spent the morning there, because there was no place to go. No place to go. But I could watch out the window, my entire world going away, that I knew what, that I knew.

Interviewer:

What, specifically?

Subject 3:

The building right across the street, which is 34×34, went through this yard and went up the road.

Interviewer:

Went up the river.

Subject 3:

Went right up this inlet, and went on a lawn. This Wharf House is 67 feet long. One end blew out. The other end blew out.

Every boat that we knew, everything that my grandfather had, was destroyed, in a heartbeat, in about two or three hours. Very much like today, 31st of August, we’re sitting here, today. It rained hard this morning. Terrible weather this morning. And when it was all over, the sun come out. It was a beautiful afternoon. To correct everything, right next door, it was right here, just south of us, was Laura’s Restaurant. That brought up in five pieces, and ended up right here.

That was my whole world, as I knew it as a kid.

Interviewer:

At 12, you’re impressionable. How do you think that changed you, changed your life?

Subject 3:

It changed everything in my life. And probably the people I knew, the characters that I knew, it probably formed my character maybe at that moment. I knew many, many people before and after. There wasn’t many lives that were lost in the ’54 hurricane, but there was things that happened after that. People that I knew, people that I cared for, people that I respected, that allowed me to come into be an adult, be a man, because I lost everything, in my eyes. It didn’t cost me any money, but I lost everything.

My grandfather brought everything back, as you can see across the road. Everything came back. And I was a part of that, building it back to where it should be. At the time, I didn’t understand, but I do now. At 62, now I understand how much that made me, in part. So, when I went on to do someone else’s job, or someone else hired me to do a job, I understood what they asked. I understood what they wanted. I understood if something got destroyed, what it took to build it back. Didn’t make any difference whether it was a hurricane, didn’t make any difference whether it was a fire, or whether it was a thief that come in and stole in the night, it just gave me that, at 12. I was in eighth grade.

Interviewer:

Did it make you scared that you couldn’t depend on anything, or you couldn’t trust something to be there when you watched it just wash away?

Subject 3:

I don’t think so. Because my grandfather lived through it. So did I. And my parents lived through it. Scared, no. Angry, maybe. And it’s probably why, some years later, now I’m 62 and we’re talking about 2004, for the last 20 years, I’ve fought hurricanes in Westport. And I have the total respect of the Board of Select Men, many of them, some past and present, that they know what I feel about hurricanes, and how much I will protect the people, and what happens with it. Because 80% of the people that are in flood zones, not only in hurricanes, but in this country, have never seen a very violent storm.

Interviewer:

And you’re in civil defense, now. That’s why you care so much.

Subject 3:

Civil defense is the old words for it. Emergency management is the new way of going. And, yes.

Interviewer:

And you watch all these houses, these with mansions, going up now over on East Beach, there. What do you think?

Subject 3:

Some, we can’t do things about. But we have, over the last 20 years, that there’s a hundred campsites, I call them, trailers at East Beach, that have a certain set of rules they have to work with. If we want them to move off, and we can give them 24 hours, 40 hours notice, with a storm coming, they have to move off. They only going to be there for six months.

Interviewer:

Do you think we’re due for another big one like Carol [inaudible 00:18:58]?

Subject 3:

We’re due for one every 10 years. This is the 13th. So, the odds are against us.

What happens with that is that the pruning of trees doesn’t happen. When you have a hurricane, it’s usually when it’s high foliage. It’s not in the wintertime. It’s in the summer. So, if you get six or seven inches of rain, and then a hundred mile an hour wind, and then a hundred mile an hour in the other direction if there’s an eye across, the trees break off. In Hurricane Gloria, in 1985, we had 1000 trees in a row, not the entire town of Westport, just in the row.

Crew:

Okay.

Go for it.

Interviewer:

Okay.

How old were you when it came, the hurricane?

Subject 4:

Let’s see. It was 50 years ago, so I had to be 29, more or less.

Interviewer:

29, more or less.

Subject 4:

I’m 79 now.

Interviewer:

Okay. So, you weren’t exactly a kid, when it happened.

Subject 4:

No. No. I’ve been-

Interviewer:

Had you ever been through a hurricane of that sort?

Subject 4:

Yeah. In 1938.

Interviewer:

Do you have memories of that?

Subject 4:

Oh, yeah. I was in school all day. [inaudible 00:20:12] school [inaudible 00:20:12] what it was.

Interviewer:

And they didn’t shut anything?

Subject 4:

I think I was in sixth grade. And I remember coming home on the bus at 3:00 in the in the afternoon. My mother says, “I think you better go in the house. [inaudible 00:20:26] happening.” And my father was down here, and he got stuck. He couldn’t get off the [inaudible 00:20:34] bridge. The old bridge, it had low, what do you call it, the approaches to it were way low. So, the water was over those. And the bridge was [inaudible 00:20:45] be, I guess, in that time. Well, it was the same way in the ’38.

Interviewer:

So, you were an old salt by the time the hurricane of 1954 came along?

Subject 4:

Well, I guess so. I was also in the typhoon when I was in the Navy, out in the South Pacific.

Interviewer:

When did you get the first inkling? Because they said there was no warning, really? They didn’t even call it a hurricane, here, until-

Subject 4:

No, they didn’t even call it a hurricane. You’re talking about ’38 or ’54?

Interviewer:

’54.

Subject 4:

’54. Right. We were hauling boats. And I remember, finally-

Interviewer:

At the boatyard?

Subject 4:

Yeah.

The tide was rising, and we were doing what we could. Obviously, something was happening. And I think it was about, we finally drove the cars up on the hill up in the back, near the sand dunes. And-

Interviewer:

And this is where?

Subject 4:

Right at the boatyard.

Interviewer:

Over by the dunes, in back of Trips Boat-

Subject 4:

Yeah.

We drove the cars up there as far as we could go. That way we could listen to the radio. Because the tide had already risen, I would say, four feet. There was four feet of water in the yard. And I think, when it was all done, we counted almost six feet at the boatyard.

Interviewer:

Didn’t you think the water was going to come right over the top of the dunes, there?

Subject 4:

Well, I did have that thought. In fact, there were a lot of people in those dunes. I think I’d say, at least 20 people, men, women, and children, over behind the dunes. Because we were trapped there. There’s no other place to go.

Interviewer:

Is this the picture? You’re in the dunes? It’s just sand? There’s no protection from the elements?

Subject 4:

Well, we were down behind the first dunes. The big dunes are over there near the beach. And I remember deciding to go up and see if I could see what was really happening in the ocean. Well, I stuck my head up over the dune, and there was nothing but a sand storm. It’s all it was. And it took me a half an hour, I guess, to get my eyes so I could see again. I decided that wasn’t the smartest thing to do. But that-

Interviewer:

What did it feel like?

Subject 4:

It was just like, I’d say, similar to a sand storm in the desert. There’s so much sand blowing. It really stings.

So yeah, we had, I think, after we were in our cars, got up as far as they would go, they said the New Bedford station, I think we had on, and they said, “It’s official now. There’s going to be a hurricane.” Now, the water’s about six feet over normal, at least. And definitely going to be a hurricane. About that time, the tower blew down. That’s the last we heard of them.

Interviewer:

Did you try to get back in onto safe land?

Subject 4:

Yeah. But you couldn’t get on the road. The lowest place would be right out here at the bridge. And each end of the bridge was all underwater.

Interviewer:

So, there are about 20, 30 of you out there in the dunes. Did you think that you wouldn’t survive?

Subject 4:

No, I didn’t. When you’re that age, you don’t ever think those things.

Interviewer:

You’re immortal.

Speaker 1:

Everything goes over here.

Beverley:

You’re immortal. What was the scariest part then?

PART 1 OF 4 ENDS [00:24:04]

Speaker 1:

Well, I guess when you think about it, well… I’ve watched a lot of our sheds blow down and they lost almost all of them. And there was only, let’s see, our office, our office building was there at the time and that we had four or five feet of water. Finally, we left when it was about, I’d say four feet of water in the yard. We left to go further back [inaudible 00:24:39]-

Beverley:

To the dams. Did you see the boats slamming around?

Speaker 1:

Oh, yeah. Yeah. But there’s not much you could do at that time. We didn’t have any great amount of warning. It was almost criminal, the fact that no one warned anyone about that. But obviously the next hurricane, I noticed that they overdid it. Anytime there was a hurricane anyway near. They were, “Oh, there’s going to be a hurricane.”

Beverley:

I was told to ask you about a shoe wedge?

Speaker 1:

Oh, that was Richie. Oh, right. I don’t know if that really happened or not. I think it was my old-

Beverley:

That urban legend now?

Speaker 1:

Yeah. Well, he said that I was… This is how he get from saying that the only thing I looking for is I used to have something in my shoe. I guess I do remember it. I couldn’t find it. I lost it somewhere. I think I lost my shoes too.

Beverley:

They say that you do think of strange things like that.

Speaker 1:

Well, yes, I guess you’re right.

Beverley:

Did you find your shoe wedge?

Speaker 1:

I think I did. Right. I think they were in one of the office building. I think.

Beverley:

How did that day end for you? How did you get off? How did you get back to land and notify your family?

Speaker 1:

Well, actually we spent the whole day, the rest of the day and all night working at the boat and never even did get home. So I wasn’t married or anything, so I didn’t remember having to go tell. My brothers, they finally came. I think they walked out and came across the bridge. No, I think, I’m not sure. We may have taken a work boat and brought it over there because we could get across the bridge. The bridge wasn’t passable, it had been, you may remember it got pretty well beat up. I think it took them a while before we could go across it.

Beverley:

Must have had your hands full after the storm passed?

Speaker 1:

Oh, yeah. It’s… After a hurricane. It’s a-

Beverley:

Do you have a tally? Do you remember of how much damage was done in the boat yard?

Speaker 1:

Oh, at that time it was well up in a thousand. We lost almost all of the storage buildings. It is a learning experience. We did know enough to tie them down. I’m not sure they would stay there now, but they certainly it be a lot harder to do them now.

Beverley:

How prepared do you think Tripp’s Boat Yard is now? If something came up as suddenly as that?

Speaker 1:

Reasonably. We’re probably a lot better equipped than we were then. Let’s see, what was last hurricane we had…

Beverley:

’91. Bob.

Speaker 2:

Bob.

Speaker 1:

’91 we had, I think we took almost 200 boats out of water, put them on land. So we were able to handle a lot more. But during the early problem, during the ’54 hurricane, we didn’t have the equipment. But anyways there weren’t that many boats around. But these days, a lot of them.

Beverley:

A lot more damage.

Speaker 1:

Yeah. And tremendous amount of damage if we have a major hurricane. The more boats you can get on land, the better off they are. Even if you have high water, the chances are they will stay there. They may tip open.

Beverley:

One piece of advice for the people now living down on the point and having boats in the water and houses so close to the water. What did you learn from all that?

Speaker 1:

Well, I learned that after a while it’s a good idea to leave because once the water starts to come, especially on Horseneck Beach, that there’s no way to get off. The approaches going across the beach are going this way. The older days… Of course this new bridge, chances are you can get over that but it’s still a good idea to leave because it’s a pretty vulnerable spot. When you think about the water, completely covered it.

Beverley:

I would think you were in the most vulnerable spot I’ve almost ever heard of somebody in.

Speaker 1:

Well, yeah, we were.

Group:

[inaudible 00:28:44].

Speaker 2:

Hey John.

Group:

[inaudible 00:28:44].

Speaker 3:

We’re not going anywhere so why’re you in a hurry to get there, right?

Sometimes we may get there and there may be a sign: ‘The End’. So let’s not go too fast.

Group:

[inaudible 00:28:44].

Speaker 3:

Are you still playing golf over there, Ian?

Group:

[Inaudible 00:28:44].

Beverley:

I’m going to find any other person too. Do you know [inaudible 00:29:59].

Group:

[inaudible 00:30:02].

Speaker 5:

Hello. Good to see you!

Group:

[inaudible 00:30:32].

Speaker 5:

Very good. How are things? Been good? Well no! You know where I got it? [inaudible 00:30:37].

Group:

[inaudible 00:30:45].

Speaker 6:

I like that idea.

Group:

[inaudible 00:31:04].

Speaker 7:

So how’re you doing?

Speaker 8:

I’m going.

Speaker 7:

You’re getting by?

Speaker 8:

I’m getting by.

Speaker 7:

That’s good.

Speaker 8:

Keeping busy.

Speaker 7:

You’re keeping busy? [inaudible 00:31:14].

Speaker 9:

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 7:

Nobody mows their own lawn anymore, except me.

Speaker 2:

That’s cute.

Beverley:

Somebody just has some food. He just got some food. We’ve done four great interviews so far.

Speaker 1:

That’s all right. Look for red dots.

Beverley:

Red dots. I got a red dot lined up here. You should be bringing them out.

Speaker 10:

Matter of fact, I used to own a radio station in Florida called W-A-L-E, and we had a cottage down on the beach, right on the water.

Beverley:

Down.

Speaker 10:

On the Horseneck Beach when they had all cottages all along there. And the storm came and for some reason I got the day off. I wasn’t expecting a hurricane but luckily I had the day off so I stayed home and with six children and my wife was pregnant. In a little cottage. And my next door neighbor came to me when the wind was coming in, he said, “You better get out of here.” So we all got in the car with-

Beverley:

What time was this?

Speaker 10:

About. Around noon time.

Beverley:

How bad was it at that point?

Speaker 10:

It was blowing like hell, but I shouldn’t be swearing. It was blowing very strongly. And I took all the kids and our dog and came across the bridge. You know the bridge I’m talking about? And I said, I got to report this to radio station. And I know there was a phone in the Inn at Paquachuck. In those days we had no other way. So we all walked into the Inn and… I’m talking about Paquachuck Inn. And I used the phone to make a report that what the situation was down here.

Beverley:

On the radio.

Speaker 10:

On the radio. And when that was through, I had parked my car up.

Beverley:

What time was that?

Speaker 10:

Around 12:30 I guess. Around there.

Beverley:

And was the water rising at that time?

Speaker 10:

I forget the exact time it came in. Oh, good lord, yeah. I parked my [inaudible 00:33:33] car up on the road further and just as soon as I get into the building to get on the phone… All my kids were in there and my wife, Jacqueline. And the building was surrounded by water. I couldn’t believe it. The surge of water came in and all of this was all water. Where I’m sitting on right now. And, I mean, the current was terrible. Boats were floating down here by themselves. And I look across the street and there was a boat company there called Evan Road and the whole building just floated away. So we were stuck inside that building. We couldn’t get out. The water was flowing,

Beverley:

Stuck inside the Paquachuck?

Speaker 10:

Yeah.

Beverley:

As the water was rising.

Speaker 10:

And see in those days where that extension on there used to be a bar with all the booze and stuff. I got my kids up on the second floor, tied the little young’uns to a bedstead so they wouldn’t run around and run downstairs.

Beverley:

You really tied them?

Speaker 10:

Tied them with rope. We had those three other guys in the building with my… beside my wife. So it got to a point where it was frightening that the wife be taken away by the water. But that’s a strong building. That didn’t do it. We were a little frightened at first.

Beverley:

Was your wife frightened?

Speaker 10:

Oh my God.

Beverley:

Your children must have been frightened?

Speaker 10:

Yeah, she was frightened. She was mad as hell that I stopped to do a broadcast. That’s what you’re supposed to do. When you were in a situation like that.

Beverley:

When you’re in the news business, you’ve got to do the news. At that point you could not leave the building?

Speaker 10:

No, I couldn’t because the water was up the top of… well, it was way up above my head anyway, and I didn’t dare swim across or anything. And… let’s see, then the bar, I don’t know, I got down the bar and as the… back of the bar was all the liquor and so forth… and bottles were floating by. And the other two guys, and even myself, I take a, open it up, take a swig and let it float. And out the door and go. And I got really frightened that it was going to be a catastrophe, but it turned out it was all right.

Beverley:

Well, as you were sitting there, you must’ve been able to watch Lawrence?

Speaker 10:

Yes. Lawrence floated away. It was two guys up on the top. There was one of those little escape things and we could see them. And not only did… There were a couple of guys there, a couple of rats climbed out at the same time. And it went right down the river. That bridge wasn’t even there. But that’s a long time ago.

Beverley:

What did you feel when all this was happening? What did the weather feel like? What did the air feel like?

Speaker 10:

You know, it’s surprising that the hurricane came through and shortly after that it became beautiful. The-

Beverley:

Like now?

Speaker 10:

Yeah. Exactly. And so I got my kids out, finally the water slowed down so we could get out. The surge of water from the bay. And we got all in the car. We went back… The bridge went at the same time, you know?

Beverley:

So you couldn’t get back to the house?

Speaker 10:

Couldn’t get back to the house. So I went around. All the way around the other way to find my cottage and all that was left there was a standpipe. A little pipe with water.

Beverley:

Everything was gone?

Speaker 10:

Everything was gone. My refrigerator was three cottages down the road. And in it we had a big Turkey. And I went up to the refrigerator door, the eggs were still in. But everything was gone. You have to-

Beverley:

Could you salvage anything personal?

Speaker 10:

Well, we rebuilt again. My mother-in-law was with us and she bought a house that survived. An old house and put it across back on the shore side. It was crazy what we did. But shortly after that… I was in the legislature at the time, and shortly after that they said they’re going to turn the Horseneck Beach over to the state, which I was against because I lived there. My efforts there didn’t work out too good.

Beverley:

Now would they say when the hurricane is happening, it gets so loud that it’s like a sound that you never hear?

Speaker 10:

It’s a roar. Yeah.

Beverley:

How did you calm each other? What did you tell each other?

Speaker 10:

Well, we were more concerned about the children. And we had six kids and my wife was pregnant.

Beverley:

How pregnant was she?

Speaker 10:

Yeah, big. Very big. She had it about two months after that.

Beverley:

Did you name your child Carol?

Speaker 10:

No. What the hell… It was a little boy. His name is Lincoln. And now he’s in charge of the bomb squad up in Providence, Rhode Island.

Speaker 2:

Oh, is he?

Speaker 10:

So he’s a policeman.

Beverley:

Must be busy.

Speaker 2:

Big, tall, good-looking guy.

Speaker 10:

Yeah.

Beverley:

So what else can you tell me about that day when you were trapped here? Did you really think that you wouldn’t survive maybe?

Speaker 10:

Well. No, it didn’t have any feeling like that. But I was very cautious that when the time came I would get the hell out of that building and get back into my car and get back to high water.

Beverley:

When you phoned in your report on the telephone, was the telephone working or did it…?

Roger:

Yes, it was to that point. It was clear as a bell. I got some tapes of it. I was a little excited when I was broadcasting.

Beverley:

You have tapes of your phone conversation?

Roger:

Yeah.

Beverley:

Oh, terrific.

Roger:

Yeah.

Beverley:

Maybe we can get a hold of a copy?

Roger:

I’m not sure I think my brother George’s has them.

Beverley:

Do you remember what you said?

Roger:

On the air?

Beverley:

Yeah.

Roger:

I said this is Jay Wright system recording from Westport, Paquachuck Inn. We’re in the middle of a horrific storm. I don’t know what the hell I said. I recorded it. And we got an award for that. The broadcasting.

Beverley:

Which award did you get?

Roger:

It’s a long time ago.

Beverley:

Oh, yeah. But that’s exciting when you’re in a real story. It’s exciting. You don’t forget.

Roger:

So we’re getting an award from the broadcaster’s… I forget what the hell they call it.

Beverley:

Emmy?

Roger:

Yeah, it’s similar to that. It was a real live broadcast. I thought it was great.

Beverley:

Your wife didn’t think it was?

Roger:

No, she didn’t care. She wanted to get these kids out of that place.

Beverley:

So the kids are tied to the bed?

Roger:

Yeah. Not the older ones. The youngest ones. They were walking, at four, three. We had children one right after the other.

Beverley:

Were they screaming? Were they-

Roger:

No, they were used to excitement. They handled it pretty well. And they remember… Not the youngest ones, but the guys who were like 14, 15, they remember it very well. It was something to see.

Beverley:

And now you have a house back there on Horseneck?

Roger:

Yes, I do.

Beverley:

And you think it would survive the next hurricane?

Roger:

Well, we’re not on the shore. We’re back at the Becket’s Beach. And that’s my sister-in-law’s house. And I guess we can handle it if we handled it before. We’ve got a good brand new bridge now. So. Where were you when the hurricane came?

Beverley:

I was a little tiny, little wee, little baby.

Roger:

Oh, right.

Beverley:

Yeah. I don’t remember anything.

Jacqueline:

And that’s my son, Greg, who is two.

Roger:

All right.

Beverley:

All right, Roger, thank you s-

Jacqueline:

And I was expecting Lincoln.

Beverley:

And how pregnant were you?

Jacqueline:

Very pregnant because he was born September 16th. So I said, “Rog, I want to go home.” I said, “The kids are going to go back to school and I’m tired.” I loved it but-

Beverley:

Where was home?

Jacqueline:

So he said, “I promise you I’ll take tomorrow off.” Because he was in politics and he was in radio. He worked hard that man. I was happy about that. So I woke up in the morning and the lights were flickering and I said, “I better peak, Gregg”, that boy you just met. And Mr. Sanderson lived next door. He came over, he said, “You know what? I’ve lived here 35 years.” And he said, “If I were you, I’d get out.” I was, “Okay.” So I told Rog and we all packed in the car. All the school closed. Just a basket for the baby. And we were coming. Oh, we stopped because friends had rented that week and brought a big turkey. They were walking out of their Turkey, “You better get out of here”, blah, blah, blah.

Beverley:

Forget the turkey.

Jacqueline:

We got across the bridge and Rog dedicated, he says, “I think I better call in the radio station.” I said, “Okay.” And we came and the woman… I wish I could remember the name of the woman who owned it at the time. Do you happen to know?

Beverley:

I don’t know, but I think I can figure it out.

Jacqueline:

Oh, she was charming. She had a big bowl of chowder on the table. We all sat around and I’m sitting there and all of a sudden the water starts trickling in.

Beverley:

Into the front door.

Jacqueline:

Yeah, right. “Okay”. Ruh, ruh, ruh, ruh. Then he finished his broadcast and all that. And then this tidal wave. So we went upstairs and I tied him on the bed because the water was coming up the stairs and they had a caretaker… And he grabbed a bottle of booze. There was a big bar there and all this stuff floating around. There’s a mark in there, how high the water went. So my husband looked out, we saw a bar go. We saw the bridge go. We saw all the boats looking like matchsticks.

Beverley:

You’re laughing now, but you must have been terrified?

Jacqueline:

Oh, it was tough. So our car is only up here. I mean, this is just a tidal wave through here. So Rog said, “Boy, if it doesn’t change here, we’re in trouble,” we’re going to have to think of something. So it did change and we finally got out. We go all around to East Beach. He wants to see what happened. Well, East Beach is devastated. Wires, poles down, he could kill himself. The house is gone.

Beverley:

What did you-

Jacqueline:

Completely gone. Up in the dunes. And, well, act of God that got us out of there. Because I would’ve been there stuck with the kids. I always felt that way. I mean. I have a lot of faith. But I thought, my God, I can’t believe. Then we got home. We lived in Somerset and we had [inaudible 00:44:56] great farmhouse and beautiful big elms and a few of them knocked down. But all the clothes were found floating in the water for days. My mother… Mother owned the house. My mother shared everything with us. She bought a house where Baker’s is today. You know behind Baker’s Beach? And now it’s Winterized. She passed away. So my sister lives there. So we all… the pass is the big thing. If you own the pass. But you know what we go through to get that pass don’t you?

Beverley:

Oh, believe me. I’ve sold my soul.

Jacqueline:

You sneak down and one comes back in the car and then the other one sneaks down.

Beverley:

That’s good.

You know I go up and see to Eadie French every year?

Speaker 4:

Oh, do you really?

Beverley:

Yeah. I’m going to go up and see her in October. She’s up in Castine and we in fact named our beetle cat French.

Speaker 4:

Good.

Beverley:

You ready?

Speaker 4:

Okay.

Beverley:

Okay. So you know where we’re going with this don’t you?

Speaker 4:

No, where are we going?

Beverley:

How old were you 50 years ago today?

Speaker 4:

14.

Beverley:

Did you have any idea that this was going to be a life-altering event when you woke up that morning?

Speaker 4:

When I woke up that morning, my uncle was concerned about the Amberjack and-

Beverley:

Ed Yeomans.

Speaker 4:

Ed Yeomans and Tom, my cousin. So we proceeded to go across the bridge.

Beverley:

What time was this?

Speaker 4:

What time did hurricane strike?

Beverley:

Later in the morning.

Speaker 4:

Later in the morning. This is early in the morning. And then we got over there and we heard that the WBZ tower had gone down.

Beverley:

Up in Boston?

Speaker 4:

Up in Boston.

Beverley:

Cambridge.

Speaker 4:

Cambridge. So we all proceeded into the sand dunes and rode out the hurricane in the sand dunes.

Beverley:

Did you see Bill Tripp over there then?

Speaker 4:

No I don’t know if I remember Bill Tripp over there at that time.

Beverley:

Who was “we”?

Speaker 4:

My uncle Ed and my cousin Tom.

Beverley:

No protection?

Speaker 4:

No protection.

Beverley:

Just sand?

Speaker 4:

Just sand that blew.

Beverley:

And buildings flying by? Boats?

Speaker 4:

No. It was just sand. I mean we were, so far. We were up with the pine trees, up in the back of Tripp’s Boat Yard. And all I remember is coming out when they blew by, seeing an old Volvo in front of Tripp’s barn there. We opened up the hood, there were a couple of crabs sitting on top of the engine.

Beverley:

[inaudible 00:47:37] speed it up?

Speaker 4:

And we realized that the Amberjack at that time, when the wind had changed, it broke for mooring and she went up the West River way up the West River and there she laid. And the only surviving boat at that time was A Wind Song, which was owned by Charlie Lawrence at that time. And that was the only boat that survived the whole thing.

Beverley:

But Amberjack lived to sail?

Speaker 4:

It lived to sail.

Beverley:

Many years?

Speaker 4:

Many years.

Beverley:

And then did-

Interviewer:

… sail.

Speaker 11:

Lived to sail.

Interviewer:

Many years?

Speaker 11:

Many years.

Interviewer:

And then did your uncle buy Windsong after that because he had-

PART 2 OF 4 ENDS [00:48:04]

Speaker 11:

No, no. He bought a Hinckley Pilot, named it the Windflower.

Interviewer:

So I mean, you talk about this now as though it’s just another day kind of thing, but there must’ve been some thoughts of the end of the world going through your mind.

Speaker 11:

Well, it was because we came across the old bridge and people thought we were a little crazy. Who were these people coming across the bridge after this hurricane and surviving?

Interviewer:

I understand there were a lot of people that did survive in the dunes that were there though.

Speaker 11:

Right.

Interviewer:

But you didn’t see them. You didn’t know they were there.

Speaker 11:

Well, it was a long, long time ago, but I remember specifically sitting by my uncle and my cousin bearing our heads down. And at that time, I don’t think you’re being 14 years old you really have that fear factor. In other words, you’re kind of numb to what’s going on.

Interviewer:

So your Uncle Ed is obviously in charge. He’s the adult here. What was he telling you at that point?

Speaker 11:

Just telling us just to stay cool, just to relax.

Interviewer:

And when you got home, what did your mother say?

Speaker 11:

Well, mother was very relieved.

Interviewer:

Did she have any words for your uncle?

Speaker 11:

No, she didn’t.

Interviewer:

No?

Speaker 11:

No. But we also came across the bridge and saw the last fling sitting up on a piling down by Lee’s Wharf.

Interviewer:

Did you have any idea when you were in the middle of it, how bad it was when you finally came out and saw the destruction?

Speaker 11:

I think after we saw the destruction and saw how, you could see the tide coming up beyond Trip’s Shed there and seen the Volvo go underwater, so we realized that something was really happening at that time.

Interviewer:

And to this day, have you seen anything like it?

Speaker 11:

No, I haven’t.

Interviewer:

Did it change your life at all?

Speaker 11:

I think I had more appreciation to the forces that happen around this area. And at any time something can happen, and I think we’re better prepared for it. What was it, the hurricane of 92, right, Bob? Was more prepared of what to do and everything else. I think that the memory clicked in of what happened way back then. The boats not being properly moored and a lot of chafing going on in the chalk and things like that where people now protecting other lines with rubber piping and things like that.

Interviewer:

And where’s Amber Jack today?

Speaker 11:

Amber Jack. Amber Jack. The last time I talked to my uncle before he passed on was he sold it to a person down in St. John’s River down in Florida. And he got a letter before he died in the mail saying if you want to come down and get the mast, that’s all that’s left.

Interviewer:

What happened?

Speaker 11:

The worms got to it.

Interviewer:

Aw. What an inglorious way for a wonderful boat to go.

Speaker 11:

I know. And that was it.

Interviewer:

[inaudible 00:51:04] to know that before he died.

Speaker 11:

Right.

Interviewer:

Thank you, [inaudible 00:51:03].

Speaker 11:

Thank you.

Glenn:

… picture taken in the fifties, but I did have a cheap camera and I took two or three pictures.

Interviewer:

[inaudible 00:51:10].

Speaker 12:

Yeah.

Interviewer:

That was the time of those little brownie cameras, right?

Glenn:

No, I had one. It was 127 was the number of the film, and it had a bellows on it, A little bitty thing, but you push a button and the bellows would come out and put the lens in the proper place and you take a picture.

Interviewer:

Did you take pictures 50 years ago of the hurricane?

Glenn:

I have pictures of what’s left of our boat. My father and I had a swordfish boat, but if you want to interview me, I’ll start the story from scratch.

Interviewer:

All right, let’s start it from scratch. You woke up that morning.

Glenn:

At five o’clock because the phone was ringing. My father called and said, ” The weather report says it’s going to blow fifty-five miles an hour out of the northeast. Don’t you think we ought to put some water in the airplane floats?” I owned a seaplane with three other fellows, and the plane would take off at 60 miles an hour, so if you get up to fifty-five, the plane is ready to take off by itself.

So I said, “Okay, I’ll meet you down there.” And the plane was at on Cherry and Webb Lane in those days. It’s Cherry and Webb Road today. You know where Walter Quinn lived?

Interviewer:

Mm-hmm.

Glenn:

Okay. We had a ramp right there. We’d fly the plane up onto the ramp. In fact, there’s a picture of it on the ramp after the hurricane. And you see there’s no engine on it.

Interviewer:

Oh, it survived, but without an engine, it survived intact. It looks pretty good.

Glenn:

Well, it all went underwater. So the FAA would not allow us to fly it.

Interviewer:

Ever

Glenn:

Ever. Because salt water went through the whole airframe. So we were selling parts so that we took the engine off. There was nothing wrong with the engine. We sold that and then we sold the floats. The rest of it, we had the scrap because the airframe, like I said, had salt in it and the government would let us fly it.

Interviewer:

Well, let’s go back to your phone, the phone call from your dad and you went over there to put water in the pontoons-

Glenn:

Yeah, I get ahead of myself. So I called up two of the fellows who owned the plane with me, and we all met down there with five gallon pails. We filled the floats with water, which probably put probably eight, 900 pounds of water in each float. So it made it safe to be there in a strong wind. Well, we got ready to leave and we realized the water had come quite high.

Interviewer:

What time was this?

Glenn:

It’s hard for me to say for sure, but I’d say probably eight or nine o’clock, something like that. And the wind was blowing quite strong. Well, we started to drive out and Cherry and Webb Lane went lower before you get back to the bridge. And we couldn’t go because the water would’ve been up into the engine if we tried to go.

So we backed up and we drove our cars up into the sand dunes as far as we could go. I was the last one in line. My 49 Chevrolet couldn’t get high enough. So that went underwater. But we stood behind the building, which is where Walter Quinn lives today and watched all these things happen.

Interviewer:

What happened?

Glenn:

The first thing that happened, the current was extremely strong. I never saw a water move so fast except in the mountains somewhere. And a big wharf came along and cut the mooring line on our boat. And that boat went, I would say it was doing at least 20 knots backwards, stern first towards the bridge against the wind. The wind was over a hundred miles an hour, but the current was stronger. It took that boat down. And when that boat hit the granite pier that supported the drawbridge, it looked as though a box of dynamite went off. It just went in all directions. It’s hard to understand how it could happen.

Well, there was another boat out in the river, the Broadbill owned by Eddie Croak, and he and George Vincent were on board on the mooring, and they saw our boat go so they decided they better get out of there. He had a Detroit 671 diesel engine in it, and he started that engine and he had it wide open going full tilt, but he couldn’t slack the mooring line. So George Vincent went below and got a hatchet and he came up and he chopped the line off and they immediately started going backwards, even with the engine going wide open.

But he was able to work it into a shore, and he came in right near where we were. So my brother-in-law and I decided we’d put on life jackets and go across Cherry and Webb Lane and see if we could help him tie the boat to a telephone pole that was there.

Interviewer:

Were you able to stand up?

Glenn:

We got in the water and out into Cherry and Webb Lane. We couldn’t touch barter. We had to paddle, push ourselves along, so I would say there was six feet of water, at least in the lane way.

Interviewer:

But you weren’t in the current.

Glenn:

That’s another peculiar thing. The current was so strong in the river. There was no current at all in Cherry and Webb Lane. We didn’t go in either direction. We just paddled out and we got over near the telephone pole and their bow was pretty close, so he was able to throw a line to us and we tied it onto the pole, and that made sure his boat was going to stay there. Eddie Croak thought the thing to do would be to stay on board, and as soon as the water started to go down after the storm was over, he’d get out. It went down so quick that the boat was grounded out before it got that far. So it turned out to be a crane required to eventually put it back in the water.

Interviewer:

Did you get on the boat at that point? You went back to the dunes.

Glenn:

No. I went back with my father and the other fellow in the sand dune. The airplane that we owned, it was a J-3 Piper Cub. And to start the engine, you stood on a float and pulled the prop over and it had high compression. If you didn’t go hard enough, it just kicked back. It didn’t go by dead center on the cylinder. And yet when that wind was blowing at its top, that propeller was going as though the engine was running on gasoline. It was spinning so fast. But we watched the water come right up over the plane. It didn’t cover the wings, but it got everything else.

Interviewer:

So you’re sitting there in the dunes with no protection. You watched your seaplane go down, you watched your boat splinter, and you watched your car.

Glenn:

And behind me is my car. Not behind me, but over the one side, my car was underwater.

Interviewer:

What were you thinking at that point?

Glenn:

I sat down and cried. I was twenty-nine years old, and I balled my head off and my father understood. He just patted me on the back. Oh. and to make it doubly worse, I left home at about 5:30 in the morning, I left home. My wife had two little babies and she never heard a word from me until three o’clock that afternoon and she didn’t know whether I was alive or dead.

Her father came along in the afternoon and they got somebody, the neighbor, to take care of the kids, and he brought her down there and she and I met in the middle of the old wrecked point bridge and took about half an hour to go through the reunion, but we made it.

Also, I have some other pictures here. This happened right in front of us. That’s the Steel Fin was the name of it. That’s the steel fishing dragger. And it came in and just squashed that sailboat. You can see the back of the sailboat is gone. It just crunched it right into the ground.

Speaker 12:

Wow.

Glenn:

And this is a famous picture. You’ve probably seen this. Ted Hebden’s Last Fling, the swordfish boat sitting on the town wharf.

Speaker 12:

Oh, yeah.

Glenn:

Now those pylons were four or five feet above the wharf, and yet that boat got up high enough. So when it came down, the pylon went right up through the bottom.

Interviewer:

Did you take these?

Glenn:

Yeah, I took all of these.

Interviewer:

Oh, you did?

Glenn:

Took every one. Yeah. And this is the stern of our boat to explain what I mean when I say it blew up when it-

Interviewer:

This is the stern.

Glenn:

… hit that granite pier.

Interviewer:

There was nothing left there, was there?

Glenn:

That’s the stern and some of the, one of the sides.

Speaker 12:

And that’s on the other side of the river.

Glenn:

No, that boat was right around that point over there.

Speaker 12:

Wow.

Glenn:

And this is the other side of the boat showing the bow. And that’s caught on the same wharf. Does anybody know where Judy Turner lives?

Speaker 12:

Mm-hmm.

Glenn:

Okay, it’s her wharf. No, over here.

Speaker 12:

Oh, over here now. Okay.

Glenn:

That’s [inaudible 01:01:09] house.

Speaker 12:

Yep.

Glenn:

Yeah. She has two houses.

Speaker 12:

Yep. Yeah. This one here. Yep.

Glenn:

Yep.

Interviewer:

So you weren’t thinking, “Oh gee, I’m lucky to be alive.” You were thinking, “I’ve lost everything.”

Glenn:

I didn’t think of the fact that I was still alive. Not one bit. I lost everything, so to speak.

Interviewer:

You lost everything.

Glenn:

But we got over it.

Interviewer:

Do you think you learned anything from all that?

Glenn:

Not really. Not to put into the future, because first of all, we’ll never have a hurricane like that again with the satellites up there now we know exactly where every hurricane is. The 54 hurricane, they lost it down off Hatteras somewhere and they couldn’t find it again.

Interviewer:

Well, but look at what happened just last week in Florida.

Glenn:

Yeah. But they knew it was going to happen.

Interviewer:

Well, people thought that… It rapidly grew to a force, three, four force.

Glenn:

Well, that’s true. But they knew where it was going because they followed it. I mean, the satellite shows a continuous set of pictures. It’s exactly where it’s going. But a lot of people are like these friends of mine in the 38 hurricane Charlie and Alma Soll, they were visiting my mother the morning of the 38 hurricane. And the wind started to blow hard. And my mother said to them, “Look, why don’t you stay here until tomorrow? We got room for you and wait for the wind to go down.” And Charlie says, “Hey,” he says, “I’ve been living here all my life. I know what’s going to happen. I can take that wind all right.” Well, he and his wife died. I mean, they were drowned.

Interviewer:

Did you know anybody that died in this 54?

Glenn:

In 54?

Interviewer:

Yeah.

Glenn:

No.

Interviewer:

No.

Glenn:

No.

Interviewer:

Nobody died in Westport then?

Glenn:

I’m trying to think whether somebody died at Westport Harbor or not. I don’t know. You’d have to catch somebody who knows a little more about the Westport Harbor than I do. But it’s this area right here, of course, it was strictly mostly marine damage. I mean, boats, the Laura’s Restaurant of course got washed away. And by the way, about 20 years after the 54 hurricane, I found the sign for Laura’s Restaurant over in Allen’s Pond.

Interviewer:

No kidding.

Glenn:

And I still got it. I’ve got to give it to the Historical Society, but I still got it.

Interviewer:

Good for you.

Glenn:

Which you probably didn’t even know Laura’s restaurant. You’re too young.

Interviewer:

No, but I’d love to have that sign.

Glenn:

Well, it’s going to the Historical Society.

Interviewer:

Well, good for you. Thank you, Glenn.

Glenn:

You’re welcome.

Interviewer:

You’re a good historian.

… Roger Siston and Roger’s wife is good counterpoint and Mike McCarthy and it’s getting a little buggy here. No, actually. Okay, so brother, sister, it’s the morning of the hurricane of 54. Where were you?

Channing:

Yeah, Westport Point. We were batting down the hatches.

Sheila:

Right.

Channing:

We knew something was going on.

Interviewer:

How did you know?

Channing:

Well, my father sent an empty beer truck down here to Laura’s Restaurant and told Jim Hickey the bartender, “Throw all the tables, the cash registers, all the books, everything into this truck here, and we get out of here before this thing takes everything away.” And Hickey looked at him and said, “What are you talking about?” He said he went through the 38 hurricane. This building never moved. That was a famous last statement because three hours later he was out here, building and all.

Interviewer:

Riding the building, wasn’t he?

Sheila:

Right. He was. He stayed in the building and a lot of people were willing to let him just stay in the building and not go out after him too.

Interviewer:

And who finally went out.

Sheila:

A group of kids. They couldn’t get any adults to do it. The adults said, “Leave him there.” And the kids said, they said to the kids, “Okay,” and the kids went out.

Channing:

Actually, they launched right from the other side of that building right there in the back of Bill White. Bill White lived in that house and Roger Reed Sr., or we call him Father Reed, he and I think Brownie, what’s Brownie name? Were in the skiff. And they went out to the building and got the two waitresses out. And when they came back, the waitresses got out of the boat. They’re screaming and yelling, “Hickey’s still in the other part of the building. Hickey [inaudible 01:05:42]…” Bill White says, “Well, we’ve got to go out and get him.” Which one of you guys want to come with you? There’s about twenty-five guys standing there. They’re all like this.

Interviewer:

And where were you Sheila doing this?

Channing:

She was right there.

Sheila:

I was right down here in all the middle of everything that was going on. People could get down to our house, but they couldn’t get any further. And they were just walking in and out of our house. Nobody was knocking or doing anything. The state police, people were coming down.

Channing:

All the fishermen were in there.

Sheila:

They were coming into the house. They were going up to the second floor so they could see what was happening in the river. Jack Brayton came in and watched-

Channing:

Watched his boat.

Sheila:

… his family’s boat, The Jane come down and hit the-

Channing:

Hit the bridge.

Sheila:

… hit the bridge. It was just as a teenager, it was very exciting while it was going on.

Interviewer:

How old were you, Channing?

Channing:

You were 16, I was 15.

Sheila:

16, yeah.

Channing:

And these people were in my mother’s kitchen, and my father’s in there orchestrating this whole convention of people that were walking out there, shots of whiskey, a couple of beers, and my mother’s screaming and yelling at my father, “What are you doing? We’re all going to die here.”

“What the hell are you talking about,” he says, “Rosie. Yeah. Have another beer.” And he’s passing around all these beers because he knew there really wasn’t anything you could do about it except just hang on and hope that the water didn’t get any higher than it did, which it got to right underneath the kitchen floor.

Sheila:

Right to the ceiling of the cellar.

Channing:

The cellar. That was it.

Interviewer:

But was there any sense among any of you that this could be doomsday, that the water could keep going? That we could be in a position of-

Sheila:

Well, as teenagers I don’t think. We just had no conception of doomsday.

Channing:

Because we were all river rats at that time.

Sheila:

Right. We were in the water more than we were out.

Channing:

Right.

Interviewer:

Tell me how you got him out Laura’s.

Channing:

We went out there and we got up on the roof with an old Boy Scout hatchet, which was as dull as, but I’m hammering away the stuff with the roof and nothing’s happening. I’m saying, “Bill, I can’t cut this stuff.”

Interviewer:

Are you moving at this point?

Channing:

Yeah, the building and everything.

Sheila:

The building is just floating right out there.

Channing:

So then he says, “Jump overboard and punch that window out.” So got out and I can only see about that much of the window. Broke that in and there’s Hickey inside and the tables are floating around. And the wharf rats was about that long. They’re all jumping around from table to table, and he’s in the middle of all of these trying to get this box of records.

Finally, he gave me his hand and I pulled him out the window. But that’s as far as I get him outside the window because he was about 200 pounds.

Sheila:

Yes.

Channing:

And Bill White was a rugged individual. By the way, he’s still alive in Florida. He and his wife, both. They’re in the nineties. He just reached down with, because he used to [inaudible 01:08:30], a strong guy. He reached down, pulled him. He was like a 300-pound swordfish. He pulled him into the skiff. He slid into the skiff and then they had a rope on the skiff, and they pulled us back into the back of that barn right there. And you were there, you in some of those pictures.

Sheila:

Yep. Yeah.

Interviewer:

And where did Laura’s end up?

Channing:

Oh, down where that bridge is somewhere. And it sat out here for quite a while. Of course, those abutments weren’t there, and they burned it the next year. They had a big bonfire.

Interviewer:

How come it was never rebuilt?

Sheila:

Because it was on town land. And after it had opened, a law was passed that no liquor could be served on town land. So there was no way of doing it. So Laura was a Laura Allen from the Cuttyhunk Allen’s, and she finally said, “That’s it. I’m going back to Cuttyhunk.” And that’s what she did. She went back to Cuttyhunk. But it was a shame because many people came from all over to go to Laura’s.

Channing:

She made great chowder. She had a special recipe for chowder.

Sheila:

Great lobsters.

Channing:

Lobsters. The bar was a great bar. It was full of memorabilia from back in the late 1800’s. There was charcoal drawings of all the local fishermen. And Al Lee, is before Al passed away here recently was trying to discover if anybody had gone out to the buildings after the storm and saved any of that stuff.

Sheila:

I don’t think-

Channing:

I don’t remember of anybody. I know that there’s a placard that’s hanging in town, a wooden sign that says Laura’s that was on the front of that building.

Interviewer:

Kewke said he found it 20 years later floating in the river.

Sheila:

Really?

Interviewer:

The sign. But we lost a real piece of-

Sheila:

Oh, yeah.

Channing:

Absolutely.

Sheila:

Oh, yes.

Interviewer:

… history here.

Channing:

Absolutely.

Interviewer:

Memorabilia.

Sheila:

I mean, you would see all sorts of people.

Channing:

All sorts of people.

Sheila:

You would see limousines come down and people go in there for lunch. They came from all over to go to this little small restaurant. It was a shame. It was a shame that they could never do something after that.

But the hurricane came, and I think as teenagers, as I said, it was a very exciting, while it was going on, it was all very exciting. When it was all over. The mess that was created was something I couldn’t have believed. I couldn’t have believed what was resting in all these backyards. I mean-

Interviewer:

Did the mess look worse than the hurricane itself?

Channing:

We knew. Our backyard was five feet deep in rubble.

Sheila:

Littered.

Channing:

Boats, docks.

Sheila:

There were things like, there were drawers that had floated out of boats. One drawer was chock full of 78 records, and it was so tightly packed none of the records came out. The same way there was a couple of drawers full of books. There was the top of a boat, maybe about a thirty-foot boat, you name it. It was, and all sorts of wood, mess.

Channing:

Propane tanks, gas tanks.

Sheila:

In the back.

Interviewer:

Because there was a Gulf Station down here too, wasn’t there?

Sheila:

Yeah.

Interviewer:

So there must have been some-

Channing:

Well, that was on the side.

Sheila:

Well, that was on the dock.

Channing:

That was…

Sheila:

The gas station?

Channing:

Well, that was the Moby-Dick Sandwich Shop.

Sheila:

Yeah. That they had over there.

Interviewer:

But nobody talks about how long it takes to repair everything and rebuild everything and-

Speaker 13:

About how long it takes to repair everything and rebuild everything, and what kind of cooperation was there afterwards?

PART 3 OF 4 ENDS [01:12:04]

Speaker 15:

We didn’t have any water because the water came up over the well, so they had to dig a new well.

Speaker 14:

Yeah, but the National Guard sent the tank truck,

Speaker 15:

National Guard. We had tank trucks down here. The phone service down here wasn’t reliable to begin with. The minute you’ve got a bad windstorm. So we didn’t have phones. We didn’t have electricity,

Speaker 14:

For the longest time.

Speaker 15:

And at that time, quite a few people had electric stoves. We had a gas stove, so we were one that could, it was propane gas, but we were one that could continue to cook where a lot of other people could. It was just a mess. It was a big mess.

Speaker 13:

Do you think there’s any lessons from that hurricane that have been put into application today?

Speaker 14:

Well, building on Barrier Beach, there was a awful long time when you couldn’t do that. But there seems to be more and more buildings on Barrier Beaches right now, that’s been going on for some years. They’re up on stilts. They’re up on that. They’re up on this. I can tell you that there was a road called 16th Avenue, which was right in the middle of Horse Neck Beach. And it went from John Reed Road up over a dune was at least 75 or 100 feet high. And this road was about quarter of a mile long. It went up over the top of this dunes and then down to the West Beach Road and there was a couple of parking lots. And the restaurant was that

The midway?

Speaker 15:

The midway. It was midway on the beach. Now that dune was a substantial amount of material. A couple days after the storm, you could stand on John Reed Road, which is now where the main gate of the reservation parking lot is. And you could see the ocean and the breakers breaking on the beach, and it completely moved that 7,500 foot quarter of a mile long dune out into here someplace.

Speaker 13:

You’ve seen the topography change over the years.

Speaker 15:

Yes, the yacht club was moved off its foundation a little. It had lockers that were facing north and south on the west side of the yacht club. They were completely moved into the water. The dock, the T dock, that went out was completely pulled out. We haven’t had a storm of that magnitude,

That magnitude,

Since then.

Speaker 13:

And I’ve had people actually say here tonight that it couldn’t happen again.

Speaker 14:

Oh no, you said that?

Speaker 15:

It can happen again. It can happen again.

Speaker 14:

It can happen about a week and a half from now.

Speaker 15:

Now the only thing is that we are better,

Speaker 16:

A week from now.

Speaker 15:

We have a little more knowledge. So we are maybe a,

Speaker 14:

Little more warning,

Speaker 15:

A little better prepared. I was in the 38 hurricane. I was six months old. My mother and I, my father left us the morning of the September 21st, the 38 hurricane, and went to work and left us where East Beach meets West Beach where it meets Horse head Beach. No indication what so ever. And by what, three o’clock that afternoon. So that was 38, 54. We had a little more warning. Now we have a lot more warning, but the water wants to come. Its going to come.

Speaker 14:

It’s key on the end dock, there was a dock that went up out of the base, the mud base. And drifted over and slammed in the Shirley Leach’s Wharf House over the entire dock, every stick and piling and everything. That’s how the horse of the water picked the whole thing right out of the, where it was sunk in the,

Speaker 13:

Yeah. You just can’t say never because

Speaker 15:

Nope.

Speaker 14:

No. Somebody actually said never?

Speaker 15:

One of the interesting things to do is to see what happens when you have a bad storm like that. The first thing that happens is not the water coming over the sea wall, it’s the water coming under. All of a sudden it starts coming up,

Speaker 14:

It starts bubbling up.

Speaker 15:

bubbling up in the grass.

Speaker 13:

Oh wow. So it’s not like it’s,

Speaker 15:

No, it’s not. Before it even does that, it starts the force of it just pushes. And that’s what it was doing. It was bubbling up in the backyard.

Speaker 14:

Did you interview Bill [inaudible 01:16:32]

Speaker 16:

Hey John?

Speaker 17:

Got to have patience.

Why is he in hurry to get there. Right. Sometimes we may get there and there maybe a sign [inaudible 01:17:05]

So let’s not go [inaudible 01:17:08].

You still playing golf over there are ya?

Speaker 18:

So how are you doing?

Speaker 19:

I am getting by.

Speaker 18:

You are getting by? That’s good.

Speaker 17:

Nobody mows their own lawn anymore, except me.

Speaker 16:

That’s cute.

Speaker 13:

Somebody just has some food. We just got some food. We’ve done four great interviews.

Speaker 14:

That’s all right. Look for red dot. I got a red dot lined up here. Used should be bringing them out.

Speaker 20:

Matter of fact, I used to own a radio station in Florida called WALE. And we had a cottage down on the beach, right on the water down on the Horse neck Beach. When they had all cottages all along there, and the storm came and for some reason I got the day off. I wasn’t expecting a hurricane, but luckily I had the day off. So I stayed home and with six children, my wife was pregnant in a little cottage. And my next door neighbor came to me when the wind was coming in, says, you better get out of here. So we all got in the car with,

Speaker 13:

What time was this?

Speaker 20:

About? Around noon time. And,

Speaker 13:

How bad was it at that point?

Speaker 20:

It was blowing like hell. But I shouldn’t be swearing. It was blowing very strongly. And I took all the kids and our dog and came across the bridge. The bridge I’m talking about. And I said, I got to report this to a radio station. And I know there was a phone in the inn, [inaudible 01:20:34]. In those days we had no other way. So we all walked into the inn and I’m talking about paper check in. And I used the phone to make a report that what the situation was down here.

Speaker 13:

On the radio?

Speaker 20:

On the radio. And when that was through, I had parked my car up.

Speaker 13:

What time was that?

Speaker 20:

Around 12:30, I guess. Right.

Speaker 13:

And was the water rising at that time?

Speaker 20:

I forget the exact time it came in. Oh good lord. Yeah. I parked my parked car up on the road further. And just as soon as I get into the building to get on the phone, all my kids were in there, my wife Jacqueline, and the building was surrounded by water. I couldn’t believe it. The surge of water came in and all of this was all water. But I’m sitting on right now, and I mean current was terrible. Boats were floating down here by themselves. And I look across the street and there was a boat company there called Evan Road and the whole building just floated away. So we were stuck inside that building. We couldn’t get out. The water was flowing,

Speaker 13:

Stuck inside the [inaudible 01:21:54]? As the water was rising?

Speaker 20:

And see in those days, where that extension on there used to be a bar with all the booze and stuff. I got my kids up on the second floor and tied the little young ones to a bedstead so they wouldn’t run around or run downstairs.

Speaker 13:

You really tied them?

Speaker 20:

Tied them with rope. Sorry. We had those three other guys in the building inside my wife. So it got to a point where it was frightening that the wife taken away by the water. But that’s a strong building that didn’t do it. We were a little frightened at first.

Speaker 13:

Was your wife frightened? The children must have been frightened?

Speaker 20:

Well, she was frightened. She was mad as hell that I stopped the to do a broadcast. That’s what you’re supposed to do when you’re in a situation like that.

Speaker 13:

When you’re in the news business. You’ve got to do the news. At that point you could not leave the building?

Speaker 20:

No, I couldn’t because the water was up, the top of clothes was way up above my head anyway. And I didn’t dare swim across or anything. And then the bar, I don’t know, I got down the bar and as the back of the bar was all the liquor and so forth. And bottles were floating by the other two guys, and even myself, I think I open it up, take a swig and let it float and out the door and go. And I got to really frightened it was going be fantastically, but it turned out it was all right.

Speaker 13:

Well, as you were sitting there, you must’ve been able to watch [inaudible 01:23:48]?

Speaker 20:

Yes. Lawrence floated away. It was two guys up on the top. There was one of those little escape things and we could see them. And not only did, there were a couple of guys there, a couple of rats climbed out at the same time and it went right down the river. That bridge wasn’t even there, but that’s a long time ago.

Speaker 13:

What did you feel when all this was happening? What did the weather feel like, what did the air feel like?

Speaker 20:

It’s surprising that the hurricane came through and shortly after that it became beautiful.

Speaker 13:

Like now?

Speaker 20:

Yeah, exactly.

And so I got my kids out. Finally the water slowed down so we could get out and the surge of water from the other bay and we got all in the car. We went back, the bridge went in the same time you know,

Speaker 13:

So you couldn’t get back to the house?

Speaker 20:

Couldn’t get back to the house. So I went around, all the way around the other way and to find my cottage and all that was left there was a standpipe. A little pipe with water.

Speaker 13:

Everything was gone?

Speaker 20:

Everything was gone. My refrigerator was three cottages down the road and we had a big turkey, and [inaudible 01:25:07] everyone on the refrigerator door, the eggs were still in. But everything was gone. You have to,

Speaker 13:

Could you salvage anything personal?

Speaker 20:

Well, we rebuilt it again. My mother-in-Law, was with us, she bought a house that survived. An old house and put it across back on the shore side. It was crazy, which we did. But shortly after that I was in the legislature at the time, and shortly after that they said they’re going to turn the Horse Neck Beach over to the state, which I was against because I lived there. My efforts there didn’t work out too good.

Speaker 13:

Now would they say when the hurricane is happening, it gets so loud that it’s like a sound that you never hear?

Speaker 20:

It’s raw. Yeah.

Speaker 13:

How did you calm each other? What did you tell each other?

Speaker 20:

We were more concerned about the children. And we had six kids and my wife was pregnant.

Speaker 13:

How pregnant was she?

Speaker 20:

Yeah, big. Very big. She had about two months after that.

Speaker 13:

Did you name your child Carol?

Speaker 20:

No. What the hell,

It was a little boy. His name is Lincoln. And now he’s in charge of the bomb squad up in the Providence, Rhode Island.

Speaker 16:

Is he?

Speaker 20:

He’s a policeman.

Speaker 13:

Must be busy.

Speaker 16:

Big, tall. Good looking guy.

Speaker 13:

So what else can you tell me about that day when you were trapped here? Did you really think that you wouldn’t survive maybe?

Speaker 20:

Well,

No, it didn’t have any feeling like that, but I was very cautious that when the time came out, get the hell out of that building. Get back into my car and get back to high water.

Speaker 13:

You phoned in your report in the telephone. Was the telephone working or did you,

Speaker 20:

Yes, it was to that point. It was clear as a bell. I got some tapes of it. I was a little excited when I was broadcasting.

Speaker 13:

You have tapes of your phone conversation?

Speaker 20:

Yeah.

Speaker 13:

Oh, terrific.

Speaker 20:

Yeah.

Speaker 13:

Maybe we can get a hold of a copy.

Speaker 20:

I’m not sure. I think my brother George is [inaudible 01:27:25]

Speaker 13:

Do you remember what you said?

Speaker 20:

On the air?

Speaker 13:

Yeah.

Speaker 20:

I said this is Jay [inaudible 01:27:30] reporting from Westport [inaudible 01:27:33] . We’re in the middle of a horrific, I don’t know what the hell I said. I reported it and we got an award for that. The broadcasting.

Speaker 13:

Which award did you get?

Speaker 20:

It’s a long time ago.

Speaker 13:

Oh yeah. But that’s exciting when you’re in a real story. It’s exciting. You don’t forget.

Speaker 20:

So.

We got an award from the broadcasters. I forget what the hell,

Speaker 13:

Emmy?

Speaker 20:

Yeah, it’s similar to that. It was a real live broadcast and I thought it was great.

Speaker 13:

Your wife didn’t think it was,

Speaker 20:

No, she didn’t care. She wanted to get these kids out of that place.

Speaker 13:

So the kids are tied to the bed?

Speaker 20:

Yeah.

Not the older ones. The youngest ones. They were walking at four, three. We had children one right after the other.

Speaker 13:

Were they screaming? Were they,

Speaker 20:

No, They were used to excitement. They handled it pretty well. And they remember not the youngest ones, but the guys who were like 14, 15, they remember very well. It was something to see.

Speaker 13:

And now you have a house back there on Horse Neck?

Speaker 20:

Yes, I do.

Speaker 13:

And you think it would survive the next hurricane?

Speaker 20:

Well, we’re not on the shore. We’re back further near [inaudible 01:29:04] Beach. And that’s my sister-in-law’s house. And I guess we could handle it. We handle it before we got a good brand new break now. So we’re all set. Where were you in the hurricane came down?

Speaker 13:

I was a little tiny little wee little baby.

Speaker 20:

All right.

Speaker 13:

Yeah.

Speaker 21:

And that, that’s my son Greg.

Speaker 13:

All right, Roger, thank you.

Speaker 21:

And I was expecting Lincoln.

Speaker 13:

And how pregnant were you?

Speaker 21:

Very pregnant. He was born September 16th.

Speaker 16:

Look alike.

Speaker 21:

So I said, Brad, I don’t want to go home. I said, the kids are going to go back to school and I’m tired. I loved it.

Speaker 13:

Where was home?

Speaker 21:

So he said, I promise you I’ll take tomorrow off. He was in politics and he was radio. He worked hard. That man, I was happy about all that. So I woke up in the morning and the lights were flickering and I said, I better feed Greg. That boy you just met. And Mr. Sanderson lived next door. He came over, [inaudible 01:30:09] . I’ve lived here 35 years. And he said, if I were you, I’d get out. Okay. So I told Rod, we all packed in the car with all the school clothes, just a basket for the baby. And we were coming. Oh, we stopped because friends had rented that week and brought a big turkey. They were walking out of the turkey, you better get out of here, blah, blah, blah.

Speaker 13:

Forget the turkey.

Speaker 21:

We got across the bridge and Rog dedicated, he says, I think I better crawl in the radio station. Okay. So then we came and the woman, I wish I could remember the name of the woman owned at the time. Do you happen to know?

Speaker 13:

I don’t know, but I think I can find out.

Speaker 21:

No, she was charming. She had a big bowl of chowder on the table. We all sat around and I’m sitting there, all of a sudden the water starts trickling in.

Speaker 13:

Into the front door?

Speaker 21:

Right. Okay.

And then he finished his broadcast and all that. And then this tidal wave. So we was going upstairs and I tied him on the bed because the water was coming up the stairs. And they had a caretaker and he grabbed a bottle of booze. There was a big bar there and all this stuff around. There’s a [inaudible 01:31:30] in there by the water. So my husband, we looked out, we saw [inaudible 01:31:36] go, we saw the bridge go. We saw all the boats looking like matchsticks,

Speaker 13:

You’re laughing now, but you must have been terrified?

Speaker 21:

It was tough. So our car is only up here. I mean, this is just a tidal wave through here. So Rog said, boy, if it doesn’t change, we’re trouble [inaudible 01:31:57] something [inaudible 01:31:57] did change. And we finally got out. You go all around to East Beach, he wants to see what happened. Well, East Beach is devastating. Wires, poles down that could kill himself? House is gone.

Speaker 13:

What did he,

Speaker 21:

Completely gone. Up in the dunes and well act of God, that got us out of there. I would’ve been there stuck with the kids. I always felt that way. I mean, I have a lot of faith, but I thought, my God, I can’t believe. Then we get home. We lived in Somerset and we had those great farm house and beautiful big elms. Few of them knocked down, but all the clothes were found floating in the water for days. My mother, my mother owned the house. My mother, she shared everything with us. She bought a house where Bakers is today behind Bakers Beach. And now it’s winterized. She’s passed away. So my sister lives there. So we all, the pass is the big thing. If you own the pass,

Speaker 13:

It’s true.

Speaker 21:

You know what we go through to get that pass. Don’t you?

Speaker 13:

Oh, believe me, I sold my soul.

Speaker 21:

You sneak down and one comes back in the car and then the other one sneaks down.

Speaker 13:

That’s good.

I go up and see French every year.

Speaker 22:

Oh, do you really?

Speaker 13:

Yeah. I’m going to go up and see in October. She’s up in Castine now.

Speaker 22:

Good.

Speaker 13:

And we in fact named our beetle cat. Cat French.

Speaker 22:

Good.

Speaker 13:

You ready?

Speaker 22:

Okay.

Speaker 13:

Okay. So you know where we’re going.

Speaker 22:

Where are we going?

Speaker 13:

How old were you 50 years ago today?

Speaker 22:

14.

Speaker 13:

And did you have any idea that this was going to be at a life altering event when you woke up that morning?

Speaker 22:

When I woke up that morning, my uncle was concerned about the Amberjack and,

Speaker 13:

Ed Yeomans?

Speaker 22:

Ed Yeomans and Tom, my cousin. So we proceeded to go across the bridge.

Speaker 13:

What time was this?

Speaker 22:

What time did hurricane strike?

Speaker 13:

Later in the morning.

Speaker 22:

Later in the morning. This is early in the morning. And then, we got over there and we heard that the WBZ Tower had gone down.

Speaker 13:

Up in Boston?

Speaker 22:

Up in Boston. So we all proceeded into the sand dunes and rode out the hurricane in the sand dunes.

Speaker 13:

Did you see Bill trip over there then?

Speaker 22:

I don’t know if I remember Bill trip over there at that time.

Speaker 13:

Who was we?

Speaker 22:

My Uncle Ed and my cousin Tom.

Speaker 13:

No protection?

Speaker 22:

No protection.

Speaker 13:

Just sand?

Speaker 22:

Just sand. And it blew.

Speaker 13:

And buildings flying by. Boats blowing.

Speaker 22:

No, it was just sand. I mean, we were, so far, we’re up in with the pine trees up in the back of Trips Boat Yard. And all I remember is coming out when the blew by, seeing an old Volvo front of Trip’s barn there. We opened up the hood and a couple of crabs sitting on top of the engine.

Speaker 13:

[inaudible 01:35:17] They heated up.

Speaker 22:

And we realized that the Amberjack at that time when the wind had changed, she broke her mooring and she went up the West River way up the West River and then she lay. And the only surviving boat at that time was the Wind Song, which was owned by Charlie Lawrence at that time. And that was the only boat that survived the whole thing.

Speaker 13:

But Amber Jack lived to sail?

Speaker 22:

Lived to sale.

Speaker 13:

Many years?

Speaker 22:

Many years.

Speaker 13:

And then did your uncle buy Windsong after that? Because he had,

Speaker 22:

No, he bought.

PART 4 OF 4 ENDS [01:35:47]