A desperate call from St Helens Fort summoned Dr Charles Kaula into a raging storm to save a lighthouse keeper’s life on 12th December 1955 – 70 years ago today.
On that unsettled morning, Mrs Minnie Holbrook, wife of the lighthouse keeper, telephoned Dr Charles Kaula of Bembridge. “My husband Harry is in a coma. Can you get here quickly?” she pleaded. Without hesitation, Dr Kaula replied, “As soon as I can.”
For the next hour, Dr. Kaula sought a way across the stormy seas. The lifeboat station eventually agreed to launch despite the towering waves and violent winds. Around mid-morning, the lifeboat Jesse Lumb battled the elements, pitching and rolling as it forced its way toward the isolated fort. 8 tense attempts were needed before Dr Kaula could leap onto the fort, gripping a rope suspended from a bollard to haul himself from the surf onto solid ground.
By midday, it was clear that Mr Holbrook was too ill to be moved by boat. With the help of the Bembridge Lifeboat honorary secretary, Dr Kaula contacted the Navy at Portsmouth. Within the hour, a Navy Whirlwind helicopter braved the storm to land on the fort.
Mr Holbrook was carried on a stretcher up the narrow lighthouse staircase and loaded into the helicopter, with Dr Kaula accompanying him. Just after 13:00, they arrived safely at St Mary’s Hospital in Newport.
For his extraordinary bravery, Dr Charles Kaula was awarded a testimonial on vellum by the Royal Humane Society, which read in part:
“For his services in going to the help of the keeper of the St. Helen’s Fort at Spithead, who was seriously ill. The Bembridge, Isle of Wight, lifeboat took Dr. Kaula out to the fort on the 12th of November 1955, and to reach the landing stage he had to jump from the lifeboat and haul himself out of the sea by a rope suspended from a bollard on the fort.”
Thanks to Dr Kaula’s courage and the skill of the lifeboat crew, Harry Holbrook made a full recovery. His son, Archie Henley, aged 16 at the time, is remembered for keeping the lighthouse light operational after his father’s evacuation. Archie regularly braved the stormy waters by small boat to maintain the lamp mechanism, ensuring the light atop St Helens Fort kept shining through the darkness.
The following year, in 1956, Archie Henley became the youngest lighthouse keeper ever appointed by Trinity House.
