Globusz^® Publishing 

It had been a wild night giving way to a bright windy morning. Bob and Susan had started on one of their early morning walks to do some bird watching. They had trained their binoculars towards the sea shore noticing the heavy sea rollers and thought that perhaps it would be better for them to move round to the lee side of the island where, not only might they see more prolific wildlife, but they would be better sheltered and generally more comfortable.

As they were about to turn away, Susan said: “Look there’s a boat down there near the rocks.”

Bob turned focused the binoculars and agreed: “I can see some figures. The boat will be pushed against the rocks and soon break up in this wind. We’d better get some help.” They hurried back to the village and spread the news.

Paddy and his son Shaun were first to get to the vicinity with a few ropes. Soon several others arrived but Paddy quickly decided that they needed additional heavier ropes so he sent Shaun back with some help to collect them from the store.

They were faced with a problem. The small craft was being swung back and forth, powerless with the force of the wind and tide, regularly crashing it onto the rocks only for it to be swept out and back again. It seemed impossible to get anywhere near without risking their lives.

As usual Paddy took charge and decided that, given the severity of the storm, they would have to establish a safety line between where they stood and three outlying rocks before any sensible rescue attempt could be made. It would take time but they did not have long as, with each crash onto the rocks, the boat would progressively be reduced to splintered timber. However it was important to recognise the dangers. This had to be a calculated rescue attempt without any foolish actions.

The tide was rising and falling over several feet and, together with a strong on shore wind, this constituted the greatest danger for anyone in the deep water.

It was generally accepted that Bob, Bill and two of our newest arrivals, Bruce and Martin were the strongest swimmers. These four, with Paddy, laboured long and hard making several abortive attempts before establishing the first safe line to the nearest rock. The procedure was to be one in which each person to enter the water had a life line back to the shore by way of the safety line and hand-over-hand movements from one rock to the other as each one was established. This was repeated twice more to extend the safety line to the two other rocks. It must have taken about two hours of exhausting effort during which all five sustained cuts and bruises, Bruce was actually knocked unconscious on one occasion before he was hauled back through the turbulent water to be temporarily out of action, but he was soon joining in again for the next thrust outward. Throughout this time the boat was repeatedly sent crashing into the rock. It was now rapidly breaking up and it could be seen that there were three very frightened occupants.

The last stage was the most difficult with the added fear that the wind would change direction and the boat would be blown away from where the lines had been laid. It was decided that the only way to make a rescue would be for the people in the boat to make a leap from the boat to the rock, where they would be assisted back along the safety lines, but very early it was seen that it would not be that easy. It would seem that the boats’ occupants were foreigners but it was not just the language barrier, it was that all three were so exhausted that they did not seem to have the ability to move to save themselves. Maybe they could not swim.

Bill, who was out on the last rock, called for one of the men to make the attempt: Gradually he stood and we could see that he was wearing a life jacket. At first it appeared that he was prepared to make an effort to take the leap, but when he attempted it, he did not jump, he more or less just flopped into the water. Instantly he was swept further out to sea. Bravely, Bill plunged in and swam out to rescue him, but it was not an easy task to reach him and when he did, the man clutched on to him so tightly that it restricted his ability to move them both back to the rock or the line. Fortunately, being still connected with his lifeline to the shore, his process was aided, but it was a painfully slow struggle. Having finally reached the rock, Bill found it impossible to get the man onto the slippery wet surface for any rest period, so he decided to make directly for the lifeline leading back to Martin on the second rock. At that point, Martin took over the responsibility for him and repeated the hand over hand back over the next stage. Bill returned out to sea in order to assess what he could do for the remaining two.

The first was a woman who, was being encouraged to make the next entry to the water by the remaining man. Bill, realising that it would not be safe or even possible for her to make the rock, decided to jump into the water to try and give her the confidence to jump straight at him. Eventually she found the courage to do so, but her timing was bad and both she and Bill found themselves dangerously placed between the boat and the rock. For a further three times the boat smashed to the rock and three times Bill and the woman narrowly missed being crushed between them. As with the first man he made straight for the lifeline to Martin. As he did so he heard a terrific crash behind him and a scream for help. The boat had been thrown yet again onto the rock but this time it had been splintered severely, violently throwing the last man into the heaving water.

Bill tried a final round. He shouted for Bruce to try for the other man who was now moving further out to sea. They changed places and Bruce struck out with a strong over-arm crawl encountering much of the splintered wood from the now non-existent boat on the way. Finally he made it guiding the man back to the shoreline via the fixed ropes. They all slumped on to the shingle beach, gasping air and slowly recovering. Hot drinks and warm clothing had been brought and this helped all those involved to gradually get back to normal.

Their thoughts turned to the three survivors who were huddled in blankets but shivering. They had only a few words of English. Paddy thought they were from Eastern Europe. It was decided that the first requirement was to get everybody back to the village for shelter. The questions could come later.

Bit by bit their story unfolded. They were illegal immigrants, as Paddy had surmised, from Eastern Europe. They, a group of twelve, had stowed away on a vessel bound for the Clyde. They were discovered on board and told they would be arrested on docking in Scotland. Thinking they would jump ship, they imagined that they would have a better chance if they made for Ireland. They decided to steal a lifeboat in the middle of the night. So they got away successfully, but in the chaos of lowering the vessel, nine of them had fallen into the water and could not be rescued. The remaining three, although in the lifeboat, were soon overcome by the bad weather and had no idea of direction. They had been afloat without power for several days when they were blown onto the rocks of Enniskerry. They did not know where they were and were in a poor and deteriorating state of health. It was decided to give them shelter for the night and consider what to do the next morning.

They woke feeling refreshed and considerably better With more food they were able, with some difficulty and with a few words of English, to explain that the two men were brothers and the woman was wife to one of them. Soon there were some smiles and grateful thanks for us for saving their lives. An affinity developed between them and some of the islanders whose initial thoughts were that we could invite them to stay on the island where eventually, they could become part of our community.

Overhearing this, I began to consider some of the ramifications of the presence of these three immigrants. I presumed that the captain of the vessel upon which they had stowed away would have reported their discovery and their subsequent jumping ship, as well as the loss of the lifeboat. The various coast-guard services would have been alerted, but given the poor weather conditions prevailing it may have been presumed that the small craft and occupants had sunk.

As far as we were concerned, it would be possible for us to give them food and shelter without asking too many questions and for a while I guessed problems would not arise. There were many things I could determine about how my island was run and who was invited, but it was clear to me that we were not above the law of the land. These three, pleasant as they were, were in fact illegal immigrants from a foreign country and there was a strict series of checks in the way that all immigrants were dealt with.

I reasoned that even if we offered them a safe haven, their presence could not stay a secret for ever — there were too many visitors and exchanges with the mainland. In general conversation, a few, aware of how unpleasant the immigration process could be for people seeking asylum and realising the degree of danger they had been prepared to put themselves in to gain entry, thought we should take them under our wing. We could not determine whether they were genuine or illegal immigrants, but their method of entry suggested without much doubt that they were illegal. By harbouring them there was even a risk that we would fall out with the law, ourselves. I called a council meeting to review our situation, the result of which was to agree unanimously that we had to report the matter to the authorities.

We told the three what we were about to do. They understood that we could not hide them indefinitely. They wanted to know what would happen to them but we genuinely did not know the answer to that. We tried to explain that if they were legitimately escaping from persecution from a place where their life was in danger then our authorities would agree that they could stay, if not they would be deported.

I telephoned the police and the next morning a group of police and officials arrived and escorted the three to the mainland.

Several months later we learned that they had been refused entry to the UK and had been sent back to their country of origin in Eastern Europe. Several felt sad and tried unsuccessfully to make further contact with them.