One man's courageA young man swept into the sea and crushed against rocks would surely have died were it not for the brave actions of lifeboatman Fergal Walsh. With no regard for the risk to himself he plunged into the sea to save the drowning man, with just a rope held by a friend as protection. This outstanding act of personal bravery saved the life of 17-year-old John CarthyDubliner John Carthy was walking on the beach in Ballycotton, on the south coast of Ireland, on 18 August 2001 when he was caught by a large wave and swept out to sea. 'At first I did not really think it was that big a deal,' says John. 'I thought, I will just swim out and grab hold of this rock here and pull myself out and all of a sudden I was being pushed quite hard up against these rocks and I couldn't hold onto them because the waves were pulling me back.' John's friend Tom tried to rescue him but ended up being swept into the water as well. John remembers: 'I was looking up and there was noone around whatsoever. After a couple of minutes, we had been both washed in and out a couple of times when I came to the surface and saw Tom swimming really hard. He came up to the shore and a wave washed him up onto a large rock. He was able to grab hold of it and pull himself out. He then ran for help.' No time to wait for the lifeboat Fergal Walsh, crew member and emergency mechanic at Batlycotton lifeboat station was walking nearby with his friend Peter Cuthbert when he heard that someone was in difficulties. Search and rescue helicopters from both Shannon and Waterford had been called out, as well as the Ballycotton lifeboat.

Fergal knew that it would take the lifeboat more than 15 minutes to reach John, so he and Peter ran down to see if they could help. They could see him in the water about 100-150m from the shore.

Passers-by had been trying to throw a life buoy to him but had not managed to reach him.

Fergal remembers: 'Well initially when myself and Peter got there, he was being tossed around in broken seas on top of a reef of rocks. He was about 50m away from us at this stage and his condition didn't look to be good. Peter and I decided that the best thing would be to get to another point of the cliff and try to recover him.' The two men backtracked along the cliff path before scrambling down the steep 15m cliff face towards the rock ledge. As they arrived, they could see John some 50m out, exhausted and being battered against some rocks. As he was now lying face down in the water, Fergal decided that time and options were running out. Shouting instructions to Peter to hold onto the end of the line, Fergal wrapped the other end around his wrist and jumped into the surf.

Fergal swims to the rescue He swam out towards John but the waves were crashing into him, pushing him onto the rocks and tearing at his skin. He pressed on and reached John within a few minutes. 'He was totally disorientated,' says Fergal. 'I remember saying to him, "It's all right, I have you now". The weather was crazy at the time and my only plan was to try and get in and out as fast as 1 could because I had quite a distance to get back to the shore from where he was.' John says: 'He threw his arms round me and I threw rny arms round him. I remember him saying, "Don't worry now, I've got you, you are safe now," and pure joy went through my head. I thought, "Thank God for this, I am getting out of here".'- Fergal now made for the shore. 'As we headed back I heard the heavy surf conning and I knew we were in one of the shallower parts,' he says. 'I knew that I was going to get banged on the rocks again coming in. I was afraid that John would be lost if he got hit on the rocks again and so I tried to protect him by turning around with my back to the sea coming in. One of the rocks pierced my heel and went in maybe an inch and a half.' Trouble on the shore Peter now attempted to pull them in but was having difficulties of his own as the waves broke over the rock ledge and knocked him onto his back. The recovery was further complicated as the line had become wrapped around Fergal's body and neck, which was strangling him as Peter tried to recover him. Fergal says: 'I was trying to clear this and keep hold of John at the same time while the commotion was going on. It was like being inside a washing machine, that's the best way to describe it really. I saw Peter get up but he got blown over again with the next wave that passed me.' On the rocks, Peter was having quite a battle. He remembers: 'A wave came and knocked me off the rock. I got up and it happened a second time. That time I just managed to hand the end of the rope to a member of the lifeboat crew who had arrived beside me and within 10 seconds they were able to drag Fergal and the lad out.' Emergency first aid needed Once ashore Fergal recovered sufficiently to assist with giving John first aid. Peter says: 'Fergal took over because he knew a lot about first aid from his lifeboat training. He sat him up. brought him round and made him sick a couple of times.' As Fergal says: 'My only concern was John's condition as he seemed to be lapsing into unconsciousness while we were waiting for the emergency services.

Basically, John was the priority at that stage. Of course I was glad to be ashore and be out of it.' John had been in the water for some time and was suffering from the cold, the battering on the rocks and swallowing seawater. Peter says: 'He was nearly gone. He didn't have the strength in the end to even hold his arm up. He must have been in the water nearly half an hour.' Fortunately, the first aid helped and John showed some signs of recovery.

Once the ambulance arrived, John and Fergal were taken to Cork University Hospital. John was kept in for five days for treatment before making a full recovery. Fergal discharged himself after two hours but was later treated by the honorary medical adviser at the station. His injuries included heavy bruising to both legs and hands, gashes running the length of both legs, a large flesh wound to his right foot, water ingestion to the lungs and numerous other cuts, grazes and bruises.

A lifeboatman through and through Fergal says: 'When you join the lifeboat service, you join because you want to. Once you are a lifeboatman, you are a lifeboatman 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. That's part of the service and this is what we do. When it's called for, we'll do it.' Peter is less modest on his friend's behalf: 'It is an honour for Fergal and it is an honour for Ballycotton lifeboat station as well. He didn't think about himself at all, just thought about the young fella. It just goes to show how much the lifeboat means to a person like that from Ballycotton. They go out in all weathers. They don't think about themselves, it's the person who has to be rescued and that's it. That's the way they are brought up and bred in Ballycotton as far as the lifeboat goes.' John is now fully recovered and feels a deep sense of gratitude to the man who saved him. 'There are a few words I would like to say to him, person to person.' he says. 'I would love to thank him for what he has done and maybe buy him a pint or two if he was down in Dublin at any stage. I would love to go out with him, I hear he is a great laugh. I would like to thank Fergal for everything he has done because if he was not there, who knows what would have happened.' Fergal received the RNLI Silver Medal for his outstanding courage, determination and selfless heroism and Peter Cuthbert received a letter of appreciation signed by the Chairman of the RNLI.Thanks on Trearddur Bay Vellum In the Spring issue of the Lifeboat magazine, we included a write-up of the rescue of three people from their capsized speedboat by the Trearddur Bay lifeboat (page 16). We are delighted to report that Atlantic 75 helmsman Chris Pritchard has since been awarded the Thanks of the Institution on Vellum for his role in this rescue.

Atlantic 75 crew members Dave Ricketts and Terry Pendlebury each received an operations director's letter of appreciation, as did D class helmsman Aubrey Diggle, D class crew members Anthony Summer and Lee Duncan, and Sergeant Martin Best and the crew of the police helicopter.

The rescue saved three waterskiers whose speedboat had capsized near Penrhyn Mawr, on Anglesey, and involved a search by three lifeboats, two helicopters and two cliff rescue teams. All three were safely recovered.

I Left: ChrisKart Meyrick was fishing from the end of Porthcawl Pier on 2 February 2002 when a giant wave swept him off the pier and into the sea below. There had been a severe gale blowing for the past 24 hours and enormous waves were completely enveloping the pier.

Porthcawl lifeboat helmsman Nick Beale remembers: 'I came down first thing in the morning to check my boat. Conditions were quite horrendous at the time. I went into the office and was chatting to Les, the harbour master, when we heard an almighty crash. I looked out of the window and the fisherman had gone. Then a lady burst into the office to say he'd been washed off the end of the pier.' Nick ran over to the lifeboat house and explained to Phil Missen, the honorary secretary, what had happened.

At this time Karl was still visible, waving for help.

The wind was southerly Gale Force 8 to Severe Gale Force 9 with gusts up to Storm Force 10, causing very rough seas. Phil authorised the launch of the lifeboat with very clear instructions to Nick to stay within the relatively sheltered waters behind the pier. At 9.32am the Atlantic 75 lifeboat Giles launched with Nick at the helm and crew members Rick Rava and Stephen Knipe.

Nick says: 'At this time we'd lost sight of him so we made our way to where I thought he was, in the lee of the pier. Then we saw debris in the water, which was his waders and a tackle box, so we started a sweep of the bay when we had radio contact with the boathouse to say that they'd spotted something outside the pier.' Karl had been drifting into Sandy Bay, to the east of Porthcawl harbour, pushed by the wind, heavy seas and tide. The waves here were up to 4m high.

Nevertheless, Nick was determined to save the man and decided to move out beyond the pier.

'We could see what I thought was a bobble hat about 200m south of us,' he says. 'Rick went to pick it up and when he grabbed hold of it, it was actually the person we were looking for. His suit was full of water and we had quite a job of it getting him in. We brought him beside the boat, waited for two big waves then Rick and Steve managed to hold onto him, we pulled him in and made our way back to the boathouse.' Steve remembers: 'When we actually found him, he was totally lifeless. Rick grabbed his top half, I grabbed his legs and we brought him into the boat.

He was very pale, his eyes were gone and basically there was no life in him at all.' Stephen and Rick kept hold of the casualty in the lifeboat but it was impossible for them to do anything else in the violent conditions. Meanwhile,Nick turned the boat around and headed for the relative shelter of the pier. 'When we got him on board, he was very pale, no colour in him, no sign of any life,' says Nick. 'We just turned back and headed back to the boathouse. Conditions out there were really bad and the best thing was to get him back to the boathouse and take it from there.' They quickly brought Karl ashore and took him into the boathouse for shelter. Stephen Williams and Ian Stroud gave him oxygen and CPR until an ambulance arrived. The ambulance crew worked for 30 minutes until they found a weak pulse and then took him to the Prince of Wales hospital in Bridgend. He was seriously ill from his ordeal and spent some considerable time in hospital but is now on the road to recovery.

Kathryn Meyrick, Karl's wife, says: 'If it wasn't for the crew, Karl wouldn't be here now. They didn't have to risk their lives to save Karl. It was a really bad day, that's all I knew, so I just want to say thanks, a really big thank you. That's from everybody, family and friends and everybody, just thanks. Karl's walking now and he's eating. He's not talking very much but he's whispering and he is getting louder. He is getting on quite well, considering, thank God.' There had been some concern that there may be another man in the sea. The Mumbles Tyne class lifeboat Ethel Anne Measures was launched together with a helicopter from RAF Chivenor. The Porthcawl lifeboat was also relaunched with new crew: helmsman Stephen Jones and crew members Carl Evans and Steven Childs. Despite a comprehensive search nothing was found.

Nick Beale received the Bronze Medal for his outstanding boat handling, seamanship and courage in atrocious weather.

Rick Rava and Steve Knipe received the Thanks of the Institution on Vellum. Helmsman Stephen Jones received a Chairman's Letter of Thanks, crew members Carl Evans and Steven Childs received Chief Executive's Letters of Thanks, and station honorary secretary Philip Missen and crew members Ian Stroud and Stephen Williams received Operations Director's Letters of Thanks.

'We're really chuffed,' says Steve. 'Couldn't have asked for more really. Nick doesn't expect anything. We just did our job, that we enjoy doing and we're just really pleased.'Windsurfer saved I in raging gale Thanks on Vellum Windsurfer Peter Waters was enjoying a great day in the surf at Porthcawl on 26 January 2002 when a sudden wind knocked him through his sail and into the water. 'I was about half a mile out to sea,' he says. 'I jumped off a 5m rolling swell line (a type of wave). When I was about 1 m from landing, a gust of wind forced the board into a nose-first landing.

I was travelling at about 20 knots and slammed into the water, catapulting me head first through my sail.' Fortunately for Peter, he was not alone. A friend had been windsurfing with him and came over to see whether he could help. Peter remembers: 'He couldn't help at that distance from the shore. He sailed to shore and dialled 999 for the Coastguard.' At 2.18pm, Porthcawl station honorary secretary Phil Missen was alerted by the sound of his pager.

Swansea Coastguard had received the call from Peter's friend, reporting that Peter was in difficulties off Newton beach.

The weather was appalling, so Phil told the Coastguard that he would alert the crew but would not launch until more information was available. By the time the lifeboat crew had assembled, the Coastguard immediate response team had arrived at Newton beach and confirmed that Peter was in trouble between Newton Point and Ogmore-by-Sea.

Phil discussed the viability of a launch with helmsman Tim Morgan and decided that, despite the dreadful weather, a successful rescue was possible and the lifeboat should launch. So at 2.24pm the Atlantic 75 lifeboat G es was launched.

Porthcawl pier afforded the lifeboat some shelter for the launch but Tim soon needed all his local knowledge and boat handling skills to cope with the large breaking seas and surf. On top of this, the sea was choppy and confused, especially around Newton Point.

When the lifeboat reached the search area the crew attempted to let Swansea Coastguard know their position, only to find that there was something wrong with the radio and they couldn't communicate at all. Tim was now in a difficult position, as the lifeboat relies heavily on the full range of information that can be passed on over the radio. However, he knew roughly where Peter was and decided to continue the search.

Peter was hard to spot, as he was wearing a dark wetsuit and balaclava and he was continually disappearing in the large seas. However, crew member Carl Evans eventually located him, drifting to the edge of the Black Rocks, in a dangerous areas of shallow, choppy water and hidden rocks.

Peter had now been in the sea for about 20 minutes. He was starting to feel very cold, despite his warm clothing and was delighted to see the lifeboat approaching. He says: They positioned their boat facing the oncoming swell, waited for a lull in the swell and pounced at full speed to pluck me plus my board into the lifeboat in what seemed a nanosecond.' Tim realised that it wouldn't be safe to try to return to the lifeboat station in the rough seas and with no radio, so he decided to land Peter at Newton beach. He brought the lifeboat close to shore and then Carl swam with Peter to the shore, The Coastguard team was waiting for them and helped Peter into warm, dry clothing.

Peter recovered quickly once he was in dry clothing. He says: 'I feel indebted to the RNLI for the assistance they gave me. Thank you very much.'Grounded crew pulled to safetyOn 11 August last year, a small rigid inflatable boat (RIB) with two people on board ran aground on West Pole Sands, on Hayling Island, Hampshire. Hayling Island lifeboat station launched the Atlantic 75 lifeboat Betty Battle at 11,30pm with helmsman Graham Raines and crew members Evan Lamperd, Ian Harris and Darren Dancer. The weather was fair and dry, with a southwesterly Force 5 wind.

When the crew spotted the RIB, it was firmly aground with 1,5m waves breaking over it. Graham tried to take the lifeboat closer to the RIB but when it was still about 25m away the lifeboat hit theseabed. Graham decided to move down to deeper water to the south, where he thought he would be able to get closer to the grounded vessel.

Sure enough, this brought him within 15m of the RIB. He decided that it was safe enough to send someone into the water and Evan climbed into the sea with a towline to attach to the RIB. The water was only knee-high in the troughs, but breaking waves reached Evan's shoulders.

On the first attempt, wind and waves pushed the lifeboat away from the RIB and Evan ran out of rope before he could reach them. He was pulled back into the lifeboat for second try. Graham used full power to manoeuvre the lifeboat within a boat's length of the RIB and Evan dropped back into the water.

The force of the waves knocked him over several times on his way but he reached the RIB in one piece. He held onto the woman crew member and Darren hauled them both back to the lifeboat. Evan then returned to the grounded RIB and helped the man to the lifeboat.

The RIB was by now completely awash and Graham decided it was not safe to try to save it.

They returned to Hayling Island lifeboat station where the two people were checked over and found to be unhurt.

For this rescue, Graham Raines and Evan Lamperd received the RNLI Chairman's letter of thanks. Ian Harris and Darren Dancer received Operations Director's letters of appreciation.Two hours searching - but nothing found One person is rescued, on average, every time an RNLI lifeboat is launched. Life-saving rescues are great news stories and it is these that capture the headlines across the country. But often the less highprofile rescues are just as difficult and dangerous and require just as much courage and commitment from the lifeboat crew.

A fruitless search at Weston-super-Mare last October was never going to make the next day's front pages, but bad weather, darkness and dangerous seas made it a tough challenge for the crew. Their efforts have now been recognised by the RNLI. Helmsman Peter Watts has received a Chairman's letter of thanks and crew members Ivan Parker and Paul Giles each received letters of thanks from the Chief Executive.

It was a wild night with Force 8 winds raising 2m waves to break over the lifeboat slipway in Westonsuper- Mare, on the Bristol Channel. The lifeboat station received reports that a man had been seen walking into the sea. They launched the Atlantic 75 lifeboat Coventry and Warwickshire just before midnight and headed towards the Grand Pier, where the man had reportedly been seen.

Waves here were up to 5m high and a 6 knot tide made steering the lifeboat very tricky indeed. Ivan and Paul set off flares to light up the area and Peter attempted to search for the man, although the terrible weather meant that he couldn't use a methodical search pattern but had to steer according to the wind and waves.

They had covered the area five times when a police helicopter arrived to help with the search. In addition, a coastguard auxiliary team was searching the shore.

After two hours, no sign had been found of anyone in the water. Swansea Coastguard decided that the original report had probably been a false alarm and called off the search. The lifeboat and crew then returned safely to the boathouse.

This type of rescue is a vital part of the RNLl's work. The danger of the search was no less because it took place close to shore and nobody was found.

The crew had to battle dangerous conditions for two hours, in shallow water, often passing close to the pier or the shore. Thanks to them, the reports could be properly investigated and, if someone had been in the water, they could have been saved.Lifeboats on the streets Dublin suffered from some severe flooding on Friday, 1 March and the RNLI stepped in to help to evacuate people from their homes as the water steadily rose. A combination of heavy rain, high winds, the highest tide of the year and the Grand Canal bursting its banks led to widespread danger.

With a D class and Y boat hitched up to trailers the volunteers headed across the city through the rush hour traffic under police escort. They arrived in Irishtown, a suburb of Dublin's inner city, to the relief of the relatives of the people trapped in their homes. The water depth was about 1,5m high but deeper on lower street levels.

The crew broke up into two teams and systematically searched the flooded streets for people stranded in their homes.

In some cases they could position the inflatables right up to front doors. Elderly and young alike were lifted into the boats and ferried to safety. Two of the elderly casualties were hypothermic and were taken by waiting ambulance to hospital. The team had just finished there at about 7pm when the Coastguard asked them to go to another area on the north side of the city where more people were reported trapped in their homes.

Again under police escort, the two lifeboats, an ex D class used by the Coastguard and a civil defence boat made up a convoy. Once again they put the boats in the water and waded through the streets (by this time it was dark) knocking on doors. Some people were shouting from upstairs windows to attract attention. They lifted 11 people to safety, mostly elderly people who had been without electricity and warm food since the morning. Once the team was sure they had done all they could they withdrew and headed back to the more familiar coast.Swimming cow saved Crew members at Douglas lifeboat station, Isle of Man, have received a certificate of commendation from the RSPCA following their rescue of a cow, which had got stuck in a rocky cove at the bottom of a cliff.

The farmer had been unable to move the cow, called Heide, and the rising tide had left her up to her knees in water and close to panic. The lifeboat crew realised that the Tyne class lifeboat Sir William Hillary could cause Heide to bolt if they came too close, so the second coxswain Neil Corran and crew member P Cowin launched the inflatable X boat and rowed to the shore to offer assistance.

As the tide was still rising, they decided to try to move her to the nearest beach, 1V2 miles away at Port Soderick. They brought the farmer into the X boat and he managed to slip a lasso around Heide.

The crew was worried that the noise of the Tyne engines would frighten her so they first tried to tow her by rowing the X boat, but didn't make much progress. Then they came up with the idea of towing the X boat with the Sir William Hillary, with Heide attached to the X boat.

This was far more successful and they soon reached Port Soderick beach with Heide swimming along behind. Once she got her feet on dry land she was able to walk away, tired but unharmed.Stag rescued after cliff plunge The British are proud of being a nation of animal lovers. Only here would a major rescue operation be mounted to save a wild animal. But as a deer was finally pulled to safety after a 5 hour ordeal, everyone involved agreed it had been worth it.

The stag fell 60m down a cliff at Port Isaac, in Cornwall. Fortunately for him, he missed rocks at the bottom and fell into the sea. Terrified and disorientated, the animal swam half a mile out to sea before the Port Isaac inshore lifeboat reached him and shepherded him back to land.

Unfortunately he panicked and managed to swim to a cove that was only accessible from the sea or down the cliff. Cliff rescue teams lowered a vet with tranquillisers down the cliff and, with the help of the lifeboat crew, the deer was placed in a cradle and carefully lifted up the cliff to safety..