On Radji Beach by Ian W. Shaw

Author:Ian W. Shaw [Shaw, Ian W.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pan Macmillan Australia

The large group of nurses that included Sylvia Muir, Veronica Clancy, Gladys Hughes, Blanche Hempsted and Jean Ashton had continued their vain efforts to direct their life raft with its mothers and children, and Dr Goldberg, and had continued those efforts until well after dark. At any one time there were in excess of a dozen people in the water swimming, pushing and pulling, but despite their best efforts the raft still travelled wherever the currents took it. Some became concerned about Mina Raymont and Shirley Gardam, who seemed to be doing more than their fair share of the work. On several occasions they had almost drifted away from the raft, so the other nurses started to take turns just watching them while they were in the water. At one point during the night those around the raft could clearly see a fire some distance away to their left, but the life raft refused to go against the current and the flames soon disappeared into the gloom behind them.

Towards morning, everyone could clearly hear shouting from a shoreline that now appeared to be a lot closer that it had been at any time since they had abandoned the Vyner Brooke. Shortly afterwards, those on the raft spotted a Malay native swimming towards them and in a few minutes he had reached the raft. He was quite exhausted when he arrived and had to be hauled aboard to recuperate. When he had done so, he used a combination of gestures and common Malay words to let them know that they were between one and two kilometres from the shore.

After a brief discussion, Veronica, Gladys and Blanche volunteered to swim to shore to see if they could find any assistance. All three claimed to be good swimmers and said that, if any one of them should find herself in trouble, the other two would be there to help out. The three swimmers set off and had gone around 500 metres when they heard a boat engine, and shortly afterwards an old motor launch pulled up alongside them. Stranger still was the sight of two RAAF airmen who were aboard. After pulling the three swimmers into the boat, the launch continued on to the life raft, and eventually the Australian airmen were able to fit all the survivors onto their motorised launch.

The girls must have given the airmen a shock in more than one way. Veronica recalled that when they were hauled aboard the launch: ‘. . . we were practically naked, our uniforms had been taken for sails, our brassieres and singlets, straps broken, were down around our hips somewhere from swimming for so many hours. The boys gave us their coats . . .’

The airmen spoke to the survivors, telling them to lie down in the boat and to remain as quiet as possible as they were in enemy waters. The launch then headed off, travelling parallel to the coastline, until it came to a long jetty that extended some distance into the sea.

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