HAZARDOUS TASK

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21859, 23 July 1934, Page 15

HAZARDOUS TASK

SICK WOMAN ON ISLAND LOWERED TO KETCH IN BASKET Mrs. E. B. Gledhill, wife of the head lightkeoper, was marooned on the Ipnely ligbthous& at Cliffy Island, off the coast of Victoria, dangerously ill with appendicitis, for two days recently. On July ]2 the seas abated sufficiently to allow the small fishing ketch Myrtle Burgess to go close enough to t"he island for Dr. •T. H. Butter to be hoisted from the boat to the island by means of a basket and a crane, lie did what he could for Mrs. Gledhill, but he found that it was necessary for her to be taken to hospital. The woman was lowered in the basket to the ketch and she was taken to Yarram Hospital. Cliffy Island has the reputation of having the worst handing of any lighthouse in/,Australia. It is a small granite rock, about 37 miles off Wilson's Promontory. Great cliffs more than 150 ieot high rise sheer from the sea. A boat can. come close to the foot of the cliffs only in the calmest weather. There a leap must be taken ashore by grasping chains which are fastened to the cliffs, -When a normal sea is running all persons going to the island and stores and provisions have to be taken ashore by the use'of a derrick, which •stands at the cliff tops. Fifteen years ago a fire swept Cliffy Island, and Mrs. Owen, wife of the lightkeoper, was seriously burned. l)r. Butter was called to the island on the occasion, and after, a struggle - in a terrific gale, landed on the island in time to save the woman's life. For his groat bravery on that occasion Dr. Butter w;fs awarded the bronze medal of the Boyal Humane Society. Dr. Butter had difficulty in landing on the recent occasion. The ketch was taken in as close as possible to the cI ill's, a basket was lowered from the island by means of the derrick, and

the doctor was hoisted up. Placing Mrs. ' Gledhill in the basket and lowering her. aboard the ketch was a still more delicate operation, requiring skilled seamanship from the crew of tho Myrtle ihirgess, but it was accomplished safely. Mrs. Gledhill was taken to Welsh V 7 Pool, u'iifl then by road to Yarram. She was suffering from an abscess on the kidney. Her condition was critical, and an operation was to havo been performed.