And it’s not because he catches the biggest fish, it’s because when he had a cardiac arrest in his boat on July 6, events conspired to make sure he survived long enough for paramedics to arrive.

He has since made a stunning recovery. 

Henry visited the Marine Rescue Forster Tuncurry watch tower on September 6 looking fit and healthy to thank two of the men who helped to save his life, volunteers Grant Maxwell and Milton Shaw.

The volunteers, working with the help of Henry’s son Hal, performed CPR and used a defibrillator to get Henry’s heart beating again and keep it going until professional help arrived. 

Henry, heading out in his boat with his son who was home for a visit at about 9am, collapsed only minutes out of the harbour. 

His wife, Pam, said the presence of their son saved her husband’s life. He radioed for help while heading full speed back into the harbour. 

“He could have been out fishing with our fat labrador,” she said. 

“Buzz would have been no help at all. He just would have eaten all the bait.”

The pair of fishermen had slept in that morning, and left for that fishing trip later than they intended.

If they had set off as planned, Pam said they would have been a lot further out to sea, and help would have been a lot further away. 

Hal’s radio message was received by Marine Rescue watch officer Grant Maxwell, but it came through garbled, with only the call sign recognisable. 

Five minutes later he spotted a boat returning at great speed. Luckily for Henry, there was another volunteer, Milton Shaw, in the harbour. 

The fishermen had passed Milton on their way out. For the first time ever, his trusty fishing boat was refusing to start. 

So, instead of being well out to sea on his own fishing expedition, he was there to render assistance when Hal pulled up with his dad. 

Best of all, in another life as he tells it, Milton served for 20 years with the ACT Ambulance Service and was ready to start CPR. 

A passerby was sent to fetch a defibrillator, which Milton knew was kept in the watch tower. 

Grant came in a hurry carrying the device and found Henry unconscious and without a pulse. 

It was the first time in the six years that the defibrillator has been in the tower that it has been used. 

NSW Ambulance and Fire and Rescue crews soon arrived on the scene and Henry was taken to Manning Base Hospital, where he stayed for five days. 

He was transferred to Forster Private Hospital and spent another five days before he was allowed to go home. 

An operation followed, in which surgeons implanted a defibrillator in his chest, to automatically restart his heart should another arrest occur. 

“I’m now rechargeable, I tell everyone,” Henry said. 

Pam said the staff at the Taree hospital were “fabulous” and a cardiologist saw Henry within a very short time. 

Pam and Henry both attribute his survival to the quick actions of the three men in the harbour; their son and the two marine rescue volunteers. 

Henry and Pam moved to the Great Lakes about three years ago after Henry retired from the building business in Singleton. 

He was quick to join the Club Forster Blue Water Fishing Club and still loves fishing. 

He is keen to get back out on the water, but said he has trouble convincing anyone to go out with him. 

“My new rule is there has to be three on the boat from now on,” Pam said.