‘ I knew I had to keep afloat. Otherwise Peter would come after me. And that thought – if I gave up he would lose his life too – kept me going.’

Peter Severs and Louisa Barrow were in awe as they looked around Staithes and Runswick’s lifeboat in the North Yorkshire station and read the crew’s list of launches on the wall. Little did they know that, just moments later, the next launch on the list would be central to their survival.

It was Tuesday 19 August, the first day of the couple’s Summer camping trip. After a visit to the lifeboat station, they walked to the end of the nearby North Pier, a concrete breakwater that protects the harbour from the treacherous North Sea. Louisa and Peter watched the swells, joking about the size of one approaching wave as it crashed into the pier, splashing their jeans.

Just as they decided to head back to shore, an even larger wave approached. ‘It hit us like a train,’ says Peter. ‘And the next thing we knew we were in the water.’

When she surfaced, the first thing Louisa saw was the fear in Peter’s blood-stained face as he clung to the pier ladder shouting, ‘Swim, Louisa, swim!’ Louisa was in the sea, yelling: ‘Don’t let me drown, don’t let me drown.’ Peter managed to shout back: ‘You’re not going to drown. Just keep swimming.’

But they were both helpless against the 4m swell. The more Louisa fought to get to shore, the more she was pushed back. And it took all Peter’s strength to hang on to the ladder as he was pummelled into the harbour wall, at times completely submerged. ‘I was just trying to stay afloat,’ Louisa says. ‘The thought of not seeing the kids or Peter again kept me going.

Back on the pier, a local man threw a rope to Louisa and she tied it around her wrist. He dragged her to the ladder before throwing another two ropes down – one to put around Peter and one to put around Louisa. As the man hauled her up with the rope, Peter pushed her as best as he could from below. ‘I remember screaming, “Don’t let him go,” as the man tied Peter’s rope to the safety rail,’ Louisa says. By this time, RNLI Deputy Launching Authority Sean Baxter had arrived on scene and he took control. Discovering that Peter was in pain and couldn’t move his leg, Sean realised that a rescue from shore would be impossible. So he radioed the station to launch the lifeboat. As he waited, he comforted Peter, who had broken his thigh bone.

Meanwhile, Staithes and Runswick lifeboat approached. Getting alongside the pier in those conditions without harming Peter or the lifeboat was a tall order. But, on his third attempt, Helmsman Lee Jackson got the angle just right. Crew Member Stephen Iredale pulled Peter into the lifeboat as Crew Member Richard Pennell caught the rope from Sean. They found a calmer spot to put Peter ashore and helped transfer him to an ambulance while Sean followed on foot. ‘Sean was like lightning,’ Louisa recalls. ‘I just remember, once I got out, seeing this bearded fellow on his radio running backwards and forwards. He was just organising everybody, and thank God he did.’

Back at the lifeboat station, Louisa was unwell after taking in a lot of seawater. Sean gave her an RNLI woolly bear thermal undersuit to change into. Fearing she would suffer secondary drowning, he stayed with her until the ambulance transferred both Louisa and Peter to an RAF Sea King helicopter. ‘You can’t put into words our gratitude,’ says Louisa. ‘You can’t. Thank you is not enough.’

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SEAN BAXTER - Deputy Launching Authority, Staithes and Runswick

‘It was much more serious than we first thought’

‘It was half an hour after high tide. And although it was a neap tide, there were some very big swells. Even I was being battered by waves. And with Peter over 1m down on the ladder, he must’ve been 3m underwater at times. So the situation was actually much more serious than we first thought.

‘Once I’d assessed Peter’s condition, it was a case of doing the logistics: getting the boat to sea; getting Peter in the boat; keeping the Coastguard informed; radioing the crew; evacuating the pier; caring for the casualties. After the euphoria of getting Peter into the boat, we still had a job to do. We had to come down from the high and make rational decisions. The training just kicks in.

‘With the lifeboat, ambulance and Sea King helicopter, it was a good all-round team effort. But what that guy did on the pier saving Louisa’s life and tying Peter to the safety rail was extremely brave, and he deserves recognition too.’

Hear more from Louisa, Peter and the crew in our online magazine at RNLI.org/staithesrescue.