Deal, Kent, the storm of January 1978 on Skardons-world

The Storm on January 11th 1978

The storm of 1978 was a devastating one, I had the Spray opposite the time ball tower at the time and had thus far had a good season on herring and sprats, we were longlining on the night in question, having baited in and lowered the boat ready for launching, slack tide was around 10pm. the tide was further out than usual and an eerie quiet sea was shining like a flat piece of glass, with the occasional swell breaking the silence. Dick and I decided to wait a while longer before launching, half an hour passed and heavy swells started to roll in , we hove up two lengths and waited and watched, there was a weird effect to the sea, and it was rising rapidly with heavy swells. The launch was aborted and the Spray hove up tight to the wall, by 11pm the wind was blowing a storm force from the North West and seas were breaching the sea wall, we tried raising some of the boatmen but none were up, so Dick and I started puling boats onto the promenade. Alec March's were first, then Vin Allsops, but the storm was running at such a height it was becoming impossible to cope. I jumped in my car and shot out to my dads farm in Albert road and starting his big tractor, drove it up the beach, by now the sea was running full force down the side streets, Dick, me and my dad had pulled half of the Deal fleet to safety, when Ben Bailey arrived on the scene about 1am. A couple of other boatmen arrived just after him, and the rest of the boats were hauled across the promenade to safety, except one. Houlie's, this was padlocked to his mooring chain and we couldnt break it free. The tractor with me on it, was picked up by a huge swell and thrown into the lamppost whilst trying to save his boat, hence the picture of the bent lamppost. The sea breached the silly wall that was embedded in the promenade run across the road hit the houses bounced back, and unable to return seaward, run down the streets into the town centre. The Spray had her port quarter stove in when a sea picked her up and smashed her into the winch; I was too busy saving other boats and forgot about mine. The tractor acquired a split tyre, and the boatmen’s association paid for a replacement. If Dick and I had not been about that night, many boats would have been destroyed