Wahini

Glen Stanley Williams was the oldest of five children born to his parents Stanley Frederick Wiliams and Margaret Gladys Edlington. Glen was born at Bruce Rock, Western Australia on 13 August 1927. He had younger sisters, Kath and Linda and brothers Fred and Don.

Records indicate Glen was married in 1948 to Doreen Patricia Robinson. Unfortunately, the marriage did not last, and the couple were divorced on 18 August 1952. The couple did not have children.

Glen earned his living as a contractor and resided in the metropolitan area. After his divorce he moved to Kalbarri, where he started work as a cray fisherman. He had family in the fishing industry in that area. Glen became the skipper of Wahini, a 31-foot cray fishing vessel.

Early on 29 November 1963 Glen and his deckhand, 18-year-old Trevor Guy Dunstall headed out to their cray pots ten miles [16 kms] south of Kalbarri. By daybreak they were pulling their pots in the breakers underneath the cliffs, just like any other morning.

It was not a usual morning though. That morning Wahini caught a rogue breaker that smashed and swamped her. The next set of breakers smashed her apart and threw Glen and Trevor into the sea. They both surfaced, spluttering. Glen called out to ask Trevor if he was okay. Trevor yelled back that he was, making himself heard over the sound of the waves breaking against the cliff.

The next breaker crashed down onto the men. Trevor was swept towards the towering rocks, landing on a ledge at the front of a cave at the cliff base. He was able to scramble into a dryer area further back. He could no longer see Glen.

Alan Ralph was pulling his pots on Sister K in the same area as Wahini. He spotted wreckage and quickly signalled to another skipper Ted Cornell, who steamed over to see the wreckage.

Alan circled around looking at the wreckage to see whose boat it could be. He saw Trevor on the cave ledge and knew that it was Wahini that had wrecked. He immediately radioed the two-way base in Kalbarri to raise the alarm. Cray boats steamed in to join the search for Glen, and a land rescue team set out in four wheel drives to the cave where Trevor was trapped.

Cray boats in the water guided the land rescuers to the top of the cave where Trevor was waiting. A rope was dropped with a bag containing soft drink, cigarettes and a pen and paper for communication. The cliff sloped for 130 feet [39.9 metres] and then dropped vertically to the sea in the last 70 feet [21 metres]. Trevor grabbed the rope to be hauled up.

As he was two feet from the ledge a breaker threatened the cliff, and Trevor dropped the rope and retreated to avoid being crushed against the rock. There was an unexpected moment when the breakers went calm, and the skippers grabbed the opportunity. Two boats joined their albacore lines [long solid line used to string smaller lines from when trawling] together with a life jacket fixed to it. Another cray fisherman Ernie Crocos had joined the boats at the cliff. He dashed to the cave and threw the life jacket to Trevor, waiting on the ledge.

Trevor dived into the water and swam for the line. Ted Cornell brought his boat up and hauled Trevor aboard. Within minutes the boats had moved back into the safety of deep water. Ted took Trevor back to Kalbarri. He had cuts and bruises but was otherwise okay.

Meanwhile Kalbarri cray boats searched for Glen. Trevor had last seen Glen holding on to wreckage at 7.30am. Ted rejoined the search, taking Constable Kevin Hodgkin from Northampton. 

News reached the outside world at 10.30am via two-way radio when Kalbarri was able to contact the OTC station at Geraldton. There were no direct telephone lines in Kalbarri then. It is not clear whether an earlier call for help may have changed the outcome for Glen.

The search was called off when it became too dark to see. Boats straggled in, locals returned from the tops of the cliffs where they were searching the water visually or with binoculars. They started again at dawn on 30 November.

Two aircraft joined the search; a RAAF Dakota that had arrived late the pervious afternoon, after the two-way radio call for help. A Vampire jet arrived early in the morning. At least four cray boats started combing the area where Wahini was wrecked. From the air half of an upturned hull was sighted well out to sea from the bluff. No sign of Glen was found near the wreckage or anywhere else the searchers looked that day.

The next day was a Sunday. Fishermen don’t observe week or weekend days. They are instructed by the weather and water conditions. Alan Ralph with his son David working on deck were one of three boats that returned to the cliff to search for any sign of Glen.

Around 8am Alan and David found Glen’s body, about 300 yards from where Wahini had wrecked. It floated to the surface while they were searching. Alan and David took Glen back to Kalbarri.

A funeral was held in Geraldton on 30 November 1963 and Glen was buried in the Anglican section of the Geraldton Cemetery.