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have occurred two nights previously when none of the men would have seen what had
happened. The area was difficult to observe unless it was being directly watched from
either just outside the station building or the light tower itself. As the two men pro-
ceeded down the slippery steps Ducat told Marshall that they could not obviously be
held responsible for the damage to the railings and turf but the lifebelt was a different
matter as it could be argued that it had not been secured properly by them.
Astheypassedtheplacewherethelifebelthadoriginallybeenplacedontherailings,
they came to the area of the crane. The crane itself was undamaged by the force of the
sea, but the metal railings had been torn away, which made both men consider what
wouldhavehappenedtoanyonestandingontheplatform.Theywouldhavebeentotally
powerless against the tons of water which must have come down from behind them as
thewave washed backandswept overtheplatform, tearing andtwisting themetal from
the platform. It was still precarious there as the waves continued to break against the
west landing, with the tops of the waves and the spray reaching up to the level of the
crane, higherthanwherethetwomenwerestanding. Despite thewavesobliterating the
lower part of the landing, Ducat and Marshall could both see that the handrails down
there, which were used for mooring and making fast the visiting boats, had been com-
pletely carried away by the mountainous seas.
As they watched the waves below on the actual landing, Ducat nudged Marshall and
pointed along the path built into the rock just below them which led to the last set of
steps down to the lower landing. A rope was wrapped around a rock and was partially
caughtuponpartofatwistedrailingonthelowersetofsteps.Someofthelargerwaves
were breaking on this area and each time they hit, they tugged at the rope and the rope
wouldswaybutstillholditspositionontherailandrock,asifrefusingtogivewayand
be sucked into the sea. Marshall, feeling some responsibility for involving Ducat in the
admonition after the crane incident, said to Ducat he would go down and free the rope
from the rock and pull it back up. Ducat nodded and Marshall started to make his way
down over the rocks. He was younger than James Ducat but the seaboots and oilskins
made movement awkward. It was slippery and the waves were breaking over the area
butnotsomuchthattheypresentedaseriousthreattohissafety.Itseemedareasonable
gamble to take. However, as Marshall grabbed the rope, he appeared to pull back and
lose his balance, falling backwards and down into the turbulent water. Marshall disap-
peared under the surface but reappeared quickly, shouting and waving his arms.
DucatrealisedthatonhisownhewouldbeunlikelytohaulMarshalloutofthewater
so he shouted to him that he was going to run back and get Macarthur and they would
pull him out. Ducat ran back up the steps and then alongside the tramway up to the
station. He flew through the door and found Macarthur in the kitchen putting away the
remaining utensils from lunch after washing up. Ducat shouted that there had been an
