Pier rescue attempt THE CHIEF SECURITY OFFICER of Brighton Palace Pier, Graham Sweetman, was in his office at the shore end of the pier with his part-time colleague Payman Akhaveissy, an Iranian student, at 1615 on the afternoon of Sunday August 4, 1985, when they were told there was someone in the water on the outer west side of the pier.

They ran to the seaward end of the pier where they were joined by anothercolleague, William Kerkhoff. There they could see the body of a man close against the west side of the pier; it was not possible to tell whether he was still alive. Graham Sweetman immediately asked someone to telephone the police.

The weather was poor with a southwesterly gale, force 8, to strong gale, force 9, blowing. Heavy seas were running and although local conditions normally produce a westerly running tidal stream an hour and a half before high water, on this particular afternoon, with the wind holding back the tide, there was very little westerly stream.

Someone had already thrown a lifebuoy to the man in the water without success and after a short discussion, Sweetman and Akhaveissy decided they should launch the pier's safety boat, a ten foot fibreglass rowing dinghy. They manhandled the dinghy down two flights of steel steps on the east side of the pier where seas were rising and falling some 10 to 12 feet.

They then cast the boat into the water, Akhaveissy jumped on board and, while William Kerkhoff held the painter, Sweetman followed him and immediately shipped the oars.

Akhaveissy began to bail with a bucket Kerkhoff had placed on board.

The boat was rowed towards the south west, underneath the pier amid confused seas and with the considerable risk of being driven against one of the steel support piles. However, they cleared the western side and the two men, one at each oar, rowed seaward so that they could ultimately make passage down sea to the man in the water who was, by now, some 70 yards to the west of the pier. All the time Kerkhoff was giving hand signals to direct them towards the casualty. Although the boat could be propelled reasonably well with two men at the oars, Payman Akhaveissy was frequently having to leave his position to bail and to try to gain sight of the casualty. They made two separate attempts to get near him, but without success, and all the time they were becoming more certain that the body was lifeless as they could see no movement. The boat was now about 80 yards from the shore and Sweetman decided that any further effort would be fruitless. He therefore explained to his colleague how he was going to try to make for the shore between the two westerly groynes.

Pointing the dinghy south west and by controlled rowing he managed to move the dinghy, stern first, towards the shore. Akhaveissy, meanwhile, continually bailing, also gave warning of every approaching wave. Sweetman slowly made progress, either by resting on oars until a crest had broken, or by rowing hard to meet the breaking six to eight foot seas.

Forty feet from the shore Sweetman realised that the seas were higher still and harder to negotiate. Capsize now was likely and he removed the oars and threw them shorewards to avoid injury if he and Akhaveissy were thrown from the boat.

A crowd had by now gathered on the beach, including police officers and William Kerkhoff. Thirty feet from the shore, among heavy breaking seas, a particularly large sea capsized the dinghy, bow over stern, throwing Akhaveissy on to the bare shore where the undertow of the retreating wave drew him seaward again. Sweetman found himself under the dinghy but uninjured.

Witnessing this from the shore, Kerkhoff, an experienced Australian surf lifeguard, ran into the sea and, part wading, part swimming, found Akhaveissy face down and unconscious in the surf. He grabbed him and waded against the considerable undertow to the shore where he passed him into the care of the police. They immediately began resuscitation and as soon as heregained consciousness he was taken by ambulance to hospital.

Meanwhile Sweetman had managed to extract himself from under the dinghy and, seeing Akhaveissy already on shore and the dinghy out of harm's way, waded to the safety of the beach.

Kerkhoff had gone back into the sea to help Sweetman, but seeing him wade ashore, returned to the shore himself.

Sweetman was unhurt and went straight back on duty after a change of clothes.

During the later stages of this incident, Brighton lifeboat station had been alerted and at 1649 the rigid inflatable Atlantic 21 lifeboat, Lions International—District 105 SE, launched.

She was manned by Helmsman Anthony Dowd and Crew Members Martin Harvey and Michael Bjark0y.

Just outside the marina entrance confused seas rising to 24 feet and reflecting off the breakwater, made for very treacherous conditions. The lifeboat cleared the marina entrance and headed south at reduced speed to gain sea room before setting a cross-sea course for the Palace Pier.

The seaward passage was very dangerous and each sea had to be 'navigated' with constant use of throttles to maintain safety and a reasonable speed of advance. Clear of the treacherous area outside the marina entrance, boat handling became easier but it still required full concentration from all the crew in the continuous heavy spray.

Eleven minutes after launching the lifeboat was 100 yards off Brighton's West Pier, having still not received the detailed nature of the casualty and also having the phrase 'west of pier' relayed to them as 'West Pier' by mistake.

However, the message then came through giving full details of the incident and saying that the men in the dinghy were now safe but that the body was still drifting off Palace Pier.

Helmsman Dowd set a course down wind to a position 200 yards west of Palace Pier. At 1701 the crew caught sight of the man's body, only 60 feet from the shoreline. There were very heavy seas and breaking surf and as it was obvious there could be little room for error, the lifeboat hove-to so that the crew could consider a plan of approach.

The helmsman then headed for the shore while one crew member kept lookout astern to assess the incoming seas. At the agreed time and only feet from the body, the lifeboat was turned to the south west and in the briefest of moments while the engines were stopped, the two crew members dragged the body inboard over the starboard bow.

Immediately Anthony Dowd drove the lifeboat ahead to clear the surf line and confirmed to the coastguard that they were now safe.

The crew, working on the assumption that the man may have been in the water for only a short time, immediately began cardiac massage and mouth-tomouth resuscitation. The helmsman hadthe difficult task of taking the lifeboat back to station at best possible speed in the prevailing conditions, all the time bearing in mind the safety of his crew who were administering first aid. The body was protected by inflated life jackets laid across the after end of the boat, the forward end being considered unsafe.

Although the body was warm, the crew members could detect no signs of life.

By 1715 the helmsman had safely negotiated the marina entrance. Again he asked his crew to keep lookout astern as heavy swells and breaking seas drove across the end of the breakwater.

Three minutes later the body was landed and taken by ambulance to hospital where the man was found to be dead.

Following this service the thanks of the Institution inscribed on vellum were presented to Graham Sweetman and a framed letter of thanks, signed by the chairman, the Duke of Atholl, was presented to Payman Akhaveissy. William Kerkhoffs rescue was referred to the Royal Humane Society and he was subsequently awarded a testimonial on vellum by the Society.

A framed letter of thanks from the chairman was also presented to Helmsman Anthony Dowd and a letter of thanks from Cdr Bruce Cairns, chief of operations, was sent to Crew Members Martin Harvey and Michael Bjark0y..