
‘Somebody was looking down on him’
During the summer holidays, Gordon and his family took a trip to the beach. But an innocent paddle in the sea soon became a fight for survival.
Gordon was spending a sunny Saturday with his nephew David, and David’s two children. They decided to visit the beach in Westport, Argyll, to make the most of the August sunshine.
‘It was decent weather, relatively calm and sunny,’ Gordon remembers. ‘David, his daughter Erin, and I were paddling in the sea.’ The three of them jumped over small waves, the water coming to just above their knees. As it began to get colder, they started to think about going home.
‘But then the waves seemed to get a bit more aggressive,’ Gordon says. ‘At that point, I was the furthest out from the beach. Erin got caught in a wave. I grabbed her and threw her to her dad.’
In throwing Erin over the waves, Gordon lost his balance.
The waves battered against him.
‘I felt myself being dragged out to sea. I tried to grab hold of David, but I couldn’t reach him,’ Gordon says. ‘I was pulled under the water and the next thing I know, I’m 30-40 yards from the beach.’
‘You believe, you hope, and you pray that help will come’
David and Izzy had scrambled up the beach to safety. But Gordon was struggling in the water.
‘I was panicking at that point. I didn’t understand what was happening to me,’ says Gordon. ‘I was lying on my back so I could regulate my breathing better. I knew I was in trouble because I was getting further from the beach, and I could hear David shouting.’
As the aggressive waves pushed Gordon further out to sea, people on the beach began to grab their phones and call 999.
‘You believe, you hope, and you pray that help will come soon, but I had no sense of time. All I could see was that I was getting further from the beach,’ says Gordon. ‘I was thinking: “I don’t think they’re going to get here. I’m not sure how I’m going to get back”. It was just totally hopeless. I was swimming and still going out further.’
‘I could only hear the noise of the sea’
The emergency services swiftly responded to the calls for help, and soon arrived at the beach.
‘I don’t know how many minutes passed but when I turned to look at the shore, I was probably a quarter of a mile out. I could see blue lights near the car park, which gave me hope,’ Gordon says. ‘I knew people were out there, but it was very quiet. I couldn’t hear voices, I couldn’t hear the sirens, I could only hear the noise of the sea.’
‘At some point, the swell turned me,’ he says. ‘When I came back around, I remember a group of seagulls landing in the water very close to me. I was thinking: “I wish you guys could lift me out of the water to take me to the beach.”’
‘I was just lying there, facing the sky, and hoping that help would come. I don’t know how long it was, but I must have blacked out,’ Gordon says.
‘I spotted him lying face down’
Meanwhile, the Campbeltown RNLI lifeboat crew were rushing to the station to launch their lifeboat. On the crew that day were William Livingstone, Gregor Menzies and Michael Smith.
‘We were getting calls to say that there was somebody in the water, and the Coastguard had a line of sight on them,’ Crew Member William says.
Gregor, who was at the helm of the inshore lifeboat, navigated to Gordon’s last known position. ‘There was a bit of swell, so we took a wee bit longer getting to Westport,’ he remembers.
Just as the boat went over a large wave, William pointed out Gordon.
‘We came over the crest of a wave, and then I spotted him lying face down. There was a seagull beside him, which drew my attention,’ William says. ‘I don’t know whether that seagull kind of helped the poor guy out, but there he was.’
All three crew members worked together to get Gordon onboard the lifeboat. ‘I caught his belt,’ says William. ‘Then I grabbed his shoulder and his arm, and we got him in the boat, unconscious. I started CPR straight away.’
‘Somebody was looking down on that guy’
As the D class lifeboat arrived ashore, Campbeltown Coastguard helped get Gordon from the lifeboat to the beach.
Gregor says: ‘The boat got ran up the beach and I jumped on CPR. Between us, we took turns. And the Coastguard gave us a hand with getting him up on the beach.’
Local paramedics from the Scottish Ambulance Service then stepped in to relieve the Campbeltown crew members. ‘I was on suction at one point, trying to keep his airway open and clear. Then paramedics came and took over, and the casualty started breathing on his own,’ William says.
Police Scotland officers helped to clear the area, while the Campbeltown Coastguard Rescue Team set up a landing site for the helicopter.
‘Then the helicopter landed,’ Gregor says. ‘Stretcher to the helicopter, and our part was done.’
‘Somebody was looking down on him,’ William adds. ‘Somebody was looking down on that guy.’
Gordon was transferred to Glasgow to receive specialist care. After a successful resuscitation, he was put into an induced coma, and then onto a ventilator, to give his body the time to rest and recover. After spending nearly two weeks recuperating in the hospital, Gordon was finally able to return home to his family.
Reflecting on that day, he says: ‘I have many people to thank for being here. I continue to think about the impact that people have on your life, and the impact your life has on others. But you don’t think about that until these events happen.’
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