After
having a wander round the island to see the chapel, the school and the
lighthouse, and
listenening
to the radio programme ‘Teulu’r siop’ (The family at the shop) at seven
and eating supper Dic, Stan, Emrys, Gerald and Pennant went to bed
early on Bardsey. The snow lay on the ground for the first time since the
winter of 1947 – by half nine the lads were tucked up in bed snug
and
warm.
They
were oblivious to the fact that the Porthdinllaen lifeboat, it’s decks
covered in ice, had been out searching for them for five hours. They
were’nt the first to have been stranded on Bardsey either, and there was
nothing for it but to have an early night.
Richard Roberts, Stanley R, Thomas from Mynytho, Emrys Jones and Pennant
Evans from Pwllheli and Gerald Lightfoot from Sarn, had just brought a new
tractor to the island. That morning when the tractor was disamntled at
Porth Meudwy and loaded onto the boat, the sea was as calm as a
duckpond. There were no problems in getting the tractor over to the
island. Once on the island the tractor was
rebuilt and the work completed at about three thirty and the lads were
ready to return to the mainland.
By this
time the wind had increased and Bardsey Sound was far too choppy
for the boat to return to Porth Meudwy. At
Aberdaron D.J. Blackstone, mananger of North Wales
Engineers,
who’d sold the tractor, knew nothing of what was happening. Seeing the
hours pass by with no sign of the lads, he decided to ring Holyhead
lighthouse so that they could send a message
to Bardsey radio to see what was going on,
however by that time, Bardsey radio had closed down for the night. This
was the reason Porthdinllaen lifeboat ventured out
and found that the lads were safe and tucked up in bed on
Bardsey Island.
Ernest
the 12 year old son of Mr and Mrs W.J. Evans, Ty Pella Bardsey has his
hands on the steering wheel already. For him the day the tractor came to
Bardsey was a great occasion. That morning he was up at six in order to
get to the mainland , Ernest is a dab hand at steering the boat and he’ll
soon be mastering driving a tractor.
Left to right
