One man's courage A 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 himin 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..