I’d even buy the first round for any remaining members of the Skinner family that poured rum down my dad’s gullet to warm him up after his stint on a lonely sandbar during a training exercise for WW2.
With me, however, money is always a factor (and last year’s house reno put more than a minor dent in my financial picture), and though I’m ready to start saving up, it will be some time before I’ll be sitting down with the Skinners for a cold brew.
However, I did write to the proprietor(s) of The Harbour Lights Pub that still survives on Harbour St., Irvine.
I asked if any ‘world-famous’ Skinners frequent their establishment on a regular basis.
Unfortunately, I’ve heard nothing in return.
So, readers, off we go to Scotland again (by Royal Mail) to see if we can scare up any Skinners who helped my dad out of a cold pickle about 70 years ago.
Mail to:
The Harbour Lights
6 Harbour Street,
Irvine, Ayrshire,
KA12 8PY
Dear Proprietors,
I discovered recently a few words about your fine establishment in a story written by my father concerning a naval training mishap off the Ayshire coast near Irvine in 1941 or 1942.
Gordon Douglas Harrison, age 20 or 21 at the time, wrote the following:
“We were perhaps headed south (for a midnight training exercise) and it was rough. Our craft ran aground on a sandbar.
“Koyl ordered Bailey and I overboard to look or tread for deeper water. (Koyl, flotilla commander, entered the water as well).
"Wandering in sea boots, underwear, duffel coat, I fell into deeper water and hollered, “Over here, sir!”
“So we worked our asses off to free the ALC and we were successful. Koyl’s fuming, “We are going to be late!”
“Bailey and Koyl were able to get back aboard. I wasn’t and they drove off and left me out in the water.”
Though my father found the next couple of hours in the water unbelievable, after the landing exercise and what felt like an eternity, Koyl and his craft returned to the same area and plucked my father from the water before he gave up hope.
He later wrote:
“When we returned to Irvine, Koyl, Bailey and I hurried to a local pub (now known as the Harbour Light). We were given hot porridge, rum, and our clothes were taken to be dried and we were wrapped in blankets.
“All of this help came from ladies.
“It was late afternoon before we left the pub (the Royal Sovereign or King George?).”
A copy of an old photo of the King’s Arms Hotel appears with my father’s story and a note that members of the Skinner family helped warm and revive the three sailors.
I write this letter to ask if The Harbour Lights was once known as the King’s Arms Hotel?
And if any members or relations of the Skinner family from the early 1940s still remain in Irvine, visit your pub on occasion and can remember or verify my father’s fine story?
If so, I’d love to hear from them.
Yours very truly,
Gordon A. Harrison
Have Rum Will Travel
***
Now, if you’re reading this, are from Irvine or know the Skinners, please let me know.
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