I came home with tar between my toes
Recorded 4 years ago
About this recording
Kathlyn Harper reminisces about learning to swim in the North Baths - and having to contend with the oily, tarry mess around the rocks that was a legacy of the Isleford incident of 1942. The Merchant Navy vessel, loaded with ammunition, sank after being battered against the rocks on the North Head during a January storm.
"There were puddles of tar and you were in it before you realised," Kathlyn explains. "It was something wonderful to be able to swim, but I came home with tar between my toes on more than one occasion. My mother got fed up of it because it was using up the margarine!"
This is one of a series of four recordings made with Kathlyn in September 2022, the month after her 92nd birthday.
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