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Dr Jean McPhail/Cursiter – Papa Westray 1926 to 1945 - Dramatic Rescue

Injured Woman’s Terrible Flight. Marooned and helpless on Papa Westray. Rowing Boat’s Hazardous Voyage.


On 25 November 1931, Dr Jean Cursiter left Papa Westray to accompany a seriously injured patient on a hazardous and extraordinary journey to hospital in Kirkwall.[1] She left behind her husband Ian and 8 month old son, Jack. It's unlikely she would return for some days given the stormy weather.

Jessie Groat's hand had been caught in a threshing machine, and although the machine was stopped immediately, the limb was crushed and lacerated to the elbow. Her husband, farmer Thomas Groat, of Howe summoned Dr Cursiter who attended to the injury but realised the case was so serious it needed an immediate operation if Mrs Groat was to survive.

Papa Westray was completely cut off from any help or rescue. The island had no telegraph or telephone communication to summon help from Kirkwall on the Orkney Mainland.  The sea was rough and dangerous for a small boat to cross.

The Orkney Herald reported:

"The situation was a terrible one.  Though within sight of Westray, Mr Groat and his wife and everyone on the island were as hopelessly cut off from communication with the rest of the world as if they had been castaways on an atoll in the middle of the Pacific Ocean."[1]

Extract from Orkney Herald Article 25 November 1931

It was a desperate time but after two hours the mail steamer, "Earl Sigurd", was spotted sailing back from Westray to Kirkwall.  It was still some distance from Papa Westray and so the “Doctor’s boat” Aileen, was launched with eight volunteers.

The Aileen (not the same crew as in this rescue)
 Photo Courtesy of W. Irvine and J. Rendall

Jessie Groat was placed in the bottom of the boat accompanied by her husband. Dr Cursiter did her best to tend to her patient. It was a rough crossing to the waiting "Earl Sigurd" which had become aware of the approaching rowing boat.

Once on board the journey to Kirkwall took 2.5 hours through stormy seas, even with Captain Bremner ordering “full-steam ahead”.   Messages “were flashed” onto the Balfour Hospital to prepare for operating. 

On arrival at the pier in Kirkwall, a horse drawn ambulance met the party and transferred them to the hospital in the town. 

Mr Groat was quoted as saying “It was terrible. We were utterly helpless.  Dr Cursiter did all she was able to alleviate my wife’s suffering but had not the facilities nor the assistance necessary to perform an operation on the injured arm.”  Mr Groat thanked everyone who helped so willingly including Dr Cursiter.

The article in the Orkney Herald of 25 November had suggested that the crew of the rowing boat were heading out to Westray to collect the doctor from there and then saw the mail boat and changed course.  However the Westray Doctor, Dr Walker asked for a correction in the paper the following week and said the injury was so severe there was nothing he would have been able to do and Dr Cursiter did all she could for the patient and acted accordingly.[3]

This rescue continues to highlight the isolation and challenges on the smaller islands, and how critical it was to have a resident doctor. It also shows how the doctors themselves depended on the entire community to come together and help in circumstances like these - just as they do today.  

Research reflection: When we first became aware of Dr Jean Cursiter, it was just a name on some island death registers and a tenuous link to Colonsay. Hunting through various resources, anecdotes and family memories led from Grenada, in the West Indies, to Papa Westray, and her final years in Colonsay. An incredible story of a formidable and determined woman.

Click here for link to Part 1

Blog post written by Sian Thomas

References

[1] The Orkney Herald 25 November 1931

[2] Rendall Jocelyn. (1991) “Wanted a Doctor”, Orkney View (30) October/November

[3]Orkney Herald 2 December 1931

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