THIS story is Part Five of an ongoing series on Ronald Barry ‘Clanka’ McLean.

To read Part Four, pick up a copy of last week’s paper or jump online to the News Of The Area website.

Part Five – Clanka’s final chapter

CLANKA eventually left Port Stephens, lured north by warmer weather and the news coming out of Queensland that the prawning was far better than in the colder waters down south.

He sailed to Evans Head prawning, before motoring further north to Mooloolaba then on to Mackay.

When Clanka left Nelson Bay he left behind his deckhand of many years, Billy Bagnall, who didn’t wish to leave home.

Denis McRae from Tea Gardens packed up and went with him.

The warmer climate didn’t affect his ability to get into trouble, as noted by long-term friend Jimmy Chalkley.

“Just to give you some idea, Clanka was barred from all pubs and clubs along the north Queensland coastline apart from the Townsville Yacht Club and I don’t know why he wasn’t kicked out of there.”

When Clanka had the big boat, ‘St Patrick’, they found the red spot kings, which unlike other prawns bred at sea, never entered the estuary systems.

They come in through the reef and lay their eggs in the bays in the reef.

For the fishermen to catch these prawns they needed to work in the bays which are surrounded by coral and reef.

Clanka hit the reef a few times but on one occasion he got the boat well and truly stuck.

The only way he could see to get the boat unstuck was to keep driving around until the boat broke free.

Well, it bent and twisted all his steering.

He was up at the bottom end of Princess Charlotte Bay, which is half way from Cairns to the tip of Cape York, and his steering tube around the propeller was all torn up.

The man was clever however.

He folded back the big booms that would go out to the nets and rigged a set of block and tackles up at the back of the boat.

He had the booms so that they could be moved through the back door.

With the ropes in his hand he could steer.

When he pulled on one rope it would move the boom and cause one side to drag, so the boat would turn that way.

He arrived back at the slip in Mooloolaba from Princess Charlotte Bay 194 hours later, steering all the way through the back door of the wheelhouse, pulling rope.

Finally, carrying out repairs in Townsville, Clanka sustained a serious electrical shock which hospitalised him with a damaged spine, grounding him for many weeks and forcing him to wear a steel brace when he finally returned to work.

“Anyway he finished up getting electrocuted,” said Jimmy Chalkey, “while working on the boat putting a new shoe underneath it.

“That’s what they do up there in case they hit the reef, so it won’t rip the keel.

“Well they jacked her up and were putting a new shoe under her.

“Clanka was standing in the water drilling when he got zapped.

“The shock threw him up against the rail of the slipway and he did his back in and could hardly work from then on.”

It is thought that the accident led to further complications, the most serious of which being the diagnosis of leukaemia.

After the devastating news Ron lived for three years.

“Sad years,” as explained by wife Adele.

“But it did give us time together without a boat and the ocean, which of course was his great love.”

Ron ‘Clanka’ McLean died in 1997, ending the saga of a very colourful Aussie character.

The last words have been saved for Adele.

“During all those years Ron lived a life which I now think of as ‘the good, the bad and the damned dangerous’.

“Many things I try to remember and try to forget at the same time – Ron lived in the moment, I lived with the consequence.”

By John ‘Stinker’ CLARKE