Cyclone in the English Channel: Search & Rescue Go

In 2007 a once-in-a-lifetime cyclone approaches the UK. Royal Navy search & rescue diver, Jay O’Donnell, finds himself in the eye of the storm. A tiny lifeboat stuffed with crewmen is at the mercy of the furious sea. As Jay flies in to help, it soon becomes clear this mission is beyond anything he’s ever encountered. And if he’s to save these 26 souls, as things go from bad to worse, Jay must also find a way to survive himself… A Noiser production, written by Roger Morris. For ad-free listening, bonus material and early access to new episodes, join Noiser+. Click the Noiser+ banner to get started. Or, if you’re on Spotify or Android, go to noiser.com/subscriptions If you have an amazing survival story of your own that you’d like to put forward for the show, let us know. Drop us an email at [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  Your sausage McMuffin with egg didn't change, your receipt did. The sausage McMuffin with egg extra value meal includes a hash brown and a small coffee for just $5. Only at McDonald's for a limited time.

• 0:12Speaker 01

  Price and participation may vary. Promotion pricing may be lower than meal pricing.

• 0:15Speaker 02

  Sam's Club is the club for every holiday club. Guess who's joining the club this season? Walmart Plus. Yep, Sam's Club Plus membership now comes with Walmart Plus at no extra cost. Two memberships, one great price. Just $120 a year could save you time and over $700. Want to get in on the membership duo of the century? Visit samsgclub.com. Come join us. Sam's Club.

• 0:50John Hopkins?

  It's January the 18th, 2007, in the English Channel, somewhere between the Cornish Peninsula and the northwest coast of France.

• 0:59John Hopkins?

  Cyclonic winds churn the green-gray sea. Waves as high as two-story houses surge in from the west, white horses galloping at their peaks. A swirling mist covers the icy surface of the water. Visibility is practically zero.

• 1:19John Hopkins?

  Above it all, a Sea King helicopter, callsign Rescue 194, hovers. For the pilot to hold position in the face of such ferocious gales takes tremendous skill.

• 1:34John Hopkins?

  Below, a bright orange lifeboat is tossed around like a cork on the towering waves. The pointed vessel is around 20 feet long and 7 feet wide. The craft has a rigid fiberglass body with an enclosed cabin. Huddled inside are the crew of the container ship Napoli, abandoned after gaping cracks appeared in her hull. The gargantuan waves pummel them with sickening monotony as the craft pitches wildly.

• 2:10John Hopkins?

  Outside, on the lifeboat's small deck, Royal Navy diver Jay O'Donnell clings on precariously as the full savagery of the storm bears down on him. Jay wears the distinctive red wetsuit of a search and rescue diver. His knees bend as he rides each fresh onslaught.

• 2:33John Hopkins?

  Looking up, the 33-year-old can make out the orange nose and tail of Rescue 194.

• 2:40John Hopkins?

  A cable trails from the open side of the helicopter, rescue harness on the end. Jay pulls on it, fighting the wind as he brings the line and harness in.

• 2:52John Hopkins?

  So far, he has helped half a dozen men to safety. But by his reckoning, there are about 20 more to go.

• 3:01John Hopkins?

  He just has to keep going.

• 3:05John Hopkins?

  But then, the lifeboat drops like a stone as the mass of water beneath it disappears. A split second later, a 40-foot wave pulses in and hurls the boat sharply back up.

• 3:19John Hopkins?

  Jay holds on for dear life.

• 3:23Speaker 04

  The sea was just... I'd just never seen it that big. It's the middle of the English Channel, and it was monstrous.

• 3:35John Hopkins?

  In the chaos, the line from the helicopter becomes tangled around two rails on the roof of the cabin.

• 3:43John Hopkins?

  Without it, Jay can't get anyone else to safety. He heaves himself up on top of the lifeboat and lies flat, wedging himself into position, gripping tightly with one hand. With his other, free hand, he tries to release the trapped line. He has to work quickly.

• 4:02John Hopkins?

  If the lifeboat sinks down again, the line will go taut. It could snap like an elastic band, whipping back up towards the sea king. Worst-case scenario, it gets caught in the aircraft's tail rotor and brings the chopper down.

• 4:19John Hopkins?

  Another wave, at least 50 feet high, takes hold of the lifeboat, tilting it until it's almost vertical.

• 4:26John Hopkins?

  All of a sudden, Jay is looking down into the heart of the vortex.

• 4:31Speaker 04

  And I thought, we're going over, because I'm at the top of this wave nearly, and there's no way this lifeboat is supposed to be this far up. I was literally vertical, looking down this wave, thinking it's going over. I'm a goner, I'm going over.

• 4:52John Hopkins?

  Ever wondered what you would do when disaster strikes? If your life depended on your next decision, could you make the right choice? Welcome to Real Survival Stories. These are the astonishing tales of ordinary people thrown into extraordinary situations. People suddenly forced to fight for their lives.

• 5:16John Hopkins?

  In this episode, we meet Petty Officer Jay O'Donnell, a 33-year-old search and rescue diver. In January 2007, as a major, once-in-a-lifetime cyclone approaches the UK, Jay finds himself responsible for the lives of 26 people.

• 5:33John Hopkins?

  After a catastrophe in the English Channel, a tiny lifeboat stuffed with crewmen is left at the mercy of the furious sea.

• 5:42John Hopkins?

  As Jay flies in to help, it becomes clear that this rescue mission is beyond anything he or his colleagues have ever encountered. Technical issues, appalling conditions, and even a man overboard all make the mission seem insurmountable. And if he is to save these 26 souls, Jay also has to find a way to survive himself.

• 6:06Speaker 04

  I just had a moment, a split-second thought, that this scenario was impossible. It was impossible to win, it was impossible to get over, because it felt like a near-death moment.

• 6:20John Hopkins?

  I'm John Hopkins. From the Noiser Network, this is Real Survival Stories.

• 6:55John Hopkins?

  It's the morning of January the 18th, 2007. At Culldroes Royal Navy Air Station in Cornwall, also known as HMS Seahawk.

• 7:06John Hopkins?

  In one of the airbase's busy meeting rooms, Jay O'Donnell takes his seat among his colleagues. He doesn't know it yet, but today is going to be the most remarkable workday of his life. And the irony is, he's not even supposed to be on duty today.

• 7:22John Hopkins?

  He's already worked the night shift and is all ready to go home. Just one last thing to do: attend the morning weather briefing. As Jay waits for it to begin, the meeting room is abuzz with talk of an emerging storm.

• 7:37John Hopkins?

  The chatter dies as the man from the meteorological office begins his presentation. The bespectacled academic doesn't really fit in with the aircrewmen and pilots who make up his audience, but he has their full attention.

• 7:52John Hopkins?

  He tells them that a severe cyclonic storm originated three days ago off the coast of Newfoundland. It has now crossed the North Atlantic without losing any of its rage. He gestures to an image on his laptop, showing the tightly backed isobars that indicate the cyclone's path.

• 8:11John Hopkins?

  The storm has a name: Kirill. The guy from the Met Office describes it as an extremely rare event. There's already been one fatality. His prediction is that when Kirill reaches the open water at the edge of the Channel, the winds will get particularly intense.

• 8:30John Hopkins?

  The briefing breaks up. Jay decides to stick around. If things are going to kick off, an extra diver will come in handy. But in all the excitement, he forgets to call his wife Louise.

• 8:43Speaker 04

  It was quite manic in the squadron because day to day, there was something like eight helicopters on the squadron. We would do military tasking and training, search and rescue training as well, plus obviously the search and rescue aircraft. 193 was the duty, 194 was the backup, and you could provide others. And so it was a busy old day, and the weather was building.

• 9:06John Hopkins?

  Just after 11am, the alarm sounds. The duty SAR commander answers an urgent SOS call. A large vessel is sinking in the channel. The crew of 26 has abandoned ship.

• 9:22John Hopkins?

  At the end of his last shift, Jay left his dive set in the duty helicopter, called Rescue 193, ready for his next mission. 193 is fully prepped, ready for takeoff. It makes sense for Jay to go out with them, especially as there's no other diver on the base that morning. He rushes to the ops room and presents himself to the SAR commander of 193.

• 9:46Speaker 04

  I said, "I've heard there's loads of people in the water. Are you launching? Are you being tasked? Do you want me to come with you?" And he went, "I won't swear," but there was a lot of swearing involved. And he said, "No, I don't. We've got a crew and you can get that dive set out of my aircraft now."

• 10:03John Hopkins?

  This decision is hard to understand, baffling even. After all, Jay's whole life has prepared him for moments like this.

• 10:16John Hopkins?

  It all started on childhood holidays in Cornwall, when a young Jay and his family would visit the Flambards theme park, which just happened to be next door to the airbase at Calderos.

• 10:30Speaker 04

  I'd really go on at my parents'. "We've got to go to Flambards." Because it was jets taking off and helicopters taking off and circling day and night. I guess some of it is, you know, subliminal, but it probably was that hook. "I want to do that. I want to be in those helicopters. I want to do that."

• 10:49John Hopkins?

  In 1991, aged 17, Jay took the first steps towards achieving his childhood dream. He joined the Navy.

• 10:58Speaker 04

  I grew up on the river in a small village in Devon. And so I was always part and parcel with the actual seaside, the water, the rivers, everything like that. And that led me into sea cadets, which led me into the Navy. I always had that view that I was going to join the Navy. It was just the one thing I always wanted to do.

• 11:16John Hopkins?

  After eight weeks' basic training, he moved into his chosen speciality.

• 11:21John Hopkins?

  Jay began as an aircraft engineer, before going on to serve in Bosnia, which included a spell on the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal.

• 11:30John Hopkins?

  It was during this time that he had a glimpse of what he really wanted to do with his life.

• 11:35Speaker 04

  There was guys hanging out at the back of the helicopter and I thought, who's that? What do they do? I just didn't know enough. That looks even cooler. I want to do that. And they said, yeah, you can do that. It can be an air crewman, but it's not for the faint-hearted. It's a lot of hard work.

• 11:55John Hopkins?

  But hard work isn't something Jay shies away from. And in 1997, he transferred to Caldwell's to undertake the arduous training required to become a helicopter air crewman.

• 12:07John Hopkins?

  After two years of graft, he was preparing for the frontline. The next step was to take a ship's divers course.

• 12:17Speaker 04

  And that was a shock. That was a shock to system. It's three week long course where you get shouted at, screamed at. You're on a conveyor belt and you just don't seem to stop apart from when you shut your eyes at night. And after that, I thought, why on earth did I ever sign up to do that?

• 12:35John Hopkins?

  But he got through it, receiving extensive training in underwater surveillance, clearance and communication. After that, Jay went on to take an even more grueling course in order to become an elite search and rescue diver.

• 12:49Speaker 04

  Which, by the way, I'd like to point out, was the hardest eight, nine weeks of my life. It's hard for a reason and it's constant jumping off of high platforms in just your wet suit fins, mask and snorkel to start with. Before you did it with a dive set on to teach you to do that day and then night and automate it. So that you were safe, you had the technique. Then, you know, we'd go off on dive after dive, Tuesdays and Thursdays, we were night diving. As well. So it was a really long day and you're just constantly wet, soaking freezing cold in a wet suit.

• 13:31John Hopkins?

  Again, through the long, soggy, exhausting days, Jay stayed the course, eventually becoming a fully-fledged SAR diver. He had found his true vocation in life.

• 13:42Speaker 04

  I lived it and I loved it and I thought, this is what I'm made for. This is what I'm on the planet for.

• 13:50John Hopkins?

  So, as a storm sweeps across the channel, putting 26 lives in danger, Jay is understandably frustrated when he's told by a colleague that he's not needed. There are survivors in the water, and he can help.

• 14:03Speaker 04

  I took my divesuit out and I was in a bit of a huff about that, thinking, what? Ridiculous, ridiculous, I'm here.

• 14:10John Hopkins?

  But then, amid the frenzy of the busy airbase, another man, named Chuck, comes jogging up to Jay.

• 14:17Speaker 04

  The SAR commander of 194 comes to speak to me. Jay, Jay, what are you doing? And I was like, what do you mean, what am I doing? I'm getting all my stuff out of 193, they don't want a diver. He goes, we do, we're getting launched. It's 26 people. I said, right, I'm gonna chuck it all in the back of the aircraft. Yeah, go on, then.

• 14:39Speaker 00

  Your sausage McMuffin with egg didn't change, your receipt did. The sausage McMuffin with egg extra value meal includes a hash brown and a small coffee for just $5, only at McDonald's for a limited time.

• 14:51Speaker 01

  Price and participation may vary. Promotion pricing may be lower than meal pricing.

• 14:54Speaker 02

  Sam's Club is the club for every holiday club. Guess who's joining the club this season? Walmart Plus. Yep, Sam's Club Plus membership now comes with Walmart Plus at no extra cost. Two memberships, one great price. Just $120 a year can save you time and over $700. Want to get in on the membership duo of the century? Visit sam'sclub.com. Come join us. Sam's Club.

• 15:27John Hopkins?

  He dashes over to helicopter 194, flings his kit inside, and clambers on board.

• 15:33John Hopkins?

  Jay puts on his ear defenders, muting the roar of the chopper as it jolts skywards.

• 15:40John Hopkins?

  The wind speed is at the absolute limit of what's safe for a helicopter launch. It feels like a giant, invisible hand is taking hold of the fuselage and angrily shaking it.

• 15:52John Hopkins?

  The pilot steadies the aircraft. The helicopter tilts forwards and hurtles into the crosswinds. It's not long before they're out over the open water.

• 16:03Speaker 04

  The sea gets bigger and rougher. The wind's really, really building, and by now the storm's really hitting.

• 16:13John Hopkins?

  The waters are so violent, it's little wonder the ship has run into trouble today.

• 16:19John Hopkins?

  The MSC Napoli is one of the biggest container ships in service. Nearly 900 feet long, this gigantic vessel is too wide to pass through the Panama Canal. And yet she's manned by a crew of just 26. Sailing out of Antwerp on the morning of January the 17th, her route took her directly into the path of the oncoming storm.

• 16:43John Hopkins?

  Despite the atrocious weather the Napoli plowed on, the captain was monitoring reports coming from the Met Office and was confident she could withstand anything the storm threw at her.

• 16:53John Hopkins?

  At around 11 a.m., a series of massive waves pummeled the side of the ship. Then the crew heard the crack of metal torn asunder.

• 17:06John Hopkins?

  The huge plates that formed the hull bulged outwards like a giant blister. A moment later, the ship rolled, revealing a large, vertical crack below the waterline.

• 17:18John Hopkins?

  The captain had no choice, and the order to abandon ship was given.

• 17:23John Hopkins?

  The crew clambered into their bulky immersion suits and took their places inside a tiny lifeboat which was winched down into the sea.

• 17:32John Hopkins?

  Now all they can do is wait.

• 17:38John Hopkins?

  Meanwhile, Rescue 194 heads out over the water with Jay on board.

• 17:44Speaker 04

  The sea was just... I'd just never seen it that big. It's the middle of the English Channel and it was monstrous.

• 17:55John Hopkins?

  The other helicopter, Rescue 193, is already on the scene. They're trying to lower a weighted line to the lifeboat.

• 18:03John Hopkins?

  The little orange vessel writhes in the swell, most of its passengers hidden inside a covered compartment. The Napoli crew are not trained in highline techniques. Jay watches as they lose several lines, snapped up and wrenched away by the winds.

• 18:21John Hopkins?

  It's obvious that they need to get a diver down there, and he's the only one available.

• 18:26Speaker 04

  Basically, they lost three or four of their highlines. They snapped all of them. And I'm jumping up and down in the aircraft going, "Chuck, get on the radio. I know how to do this. Tell them to move. Tell them to, we can do this." And he's going, "Calm down, Jay, calm down. Yeah, I know, I know. Okay, if you don't do it, I'm gonna get on the radio and I'm gonna scream at them, get out of the way." And then they came on the radio, almost like they heard me. "Yeah, 194, this is 193. We think that probably be in a bad position with your diver. More tools in the box."

• 19:01John Hopkins?

  Clearly unable to help right now, 193 pulls away and leaves things to 194.

• 19:07John Hopkins?

  Now it is all on Jay. He calms himself and assesses the situation. Straight away, it's clear he has a big decision to make.

• 19:16Speaker 04

  I was looking at this life raft, thinking, "Do I jump out the aircraft to the lifeboat or do I get winched?"

• 19:25John Hopkins?

  Jumping into the sea is what he's trained to do. But the size of the waves gives him pause for thought.

• 19:33John Hopkins?

  The surface is a constantly shifting frenzy of watery hills and valleys.

• 19:38Speaker 04

  I just thought, "I could be swimming up against a 40, 50 foot wave and not get anywhere and not get to the vessel." Because it was skittish, it was all over the place. It was getting flipped as the waves came over. And I thought, "I could just burn all my energy trying to swim for this vessel and not get to it."

• 19:59John Hopkins?

  Winching down it is. Rapidly, the winch is attached to Jay's harness, and he readies himself by the open door of the helicopter. He takes off his ear defenders, and the full roar of the storm hits him. It's like standing in the blast of a jet engine. He nods once to the winch operator, then swings out into the air.

• 20:23John Hopkins?

  As the line is paid out and Jay descends, he is increasingly at the mercy of the winds. Holding onto the cable with one hand, he uses the other to signal to the pilots so they can maneuver the helicopter closer to the lifeboat.

• 20:40John Hopkins?

  There's no denying the severity of this situation. The likelihood of everyone making it out alive is slim, and becoming even slimmer.

• 20:50John Hopkins?

  Jay knows all too well how harrowing his job can be.

• 20:55John Hopkins?

  Back in September 2000, a Greek passenger ferry went down off the coast of Paros in the Aegean Sea. Eighty-one people died. Jay was there as part of the rescue effort.

• 21:07John Hopkins?

  While many were saved, Jay also pulled three dead out of the water on that tragic day. The incident haunted him for years.

• 21:16Speaker 04

  I luckily don't have nightmares about it anymore, but I certainly did for a long time. There was obviously some pictures burnt into my memory that I could do without.

• 21:26John Hopkins?

  It's something he's had to learn to deal with. And right now, as the waves rise up to meet him, Jay doesn't have time to dwell on the past.

• 21:34Speaker 04

  So there I am, I'm on the winch now, knowing exactly what I'm doing, giving hand signals, lower the winch, okay, raise the winch. One minute, I'm underwater, and I'm like, oh, all right, I'm in the water. I've got some buoyancy because I've got my wetsuit on, and I've got like a mini life jacket thing. And I'm trying to swim, and the next minute, I'm twenty, thirty foot in the air, still swimming, no water.

• 21:56John Hopkins?

  It's chaos. Jay is flung up and down, in and out of the sea.

• 22:02John Hopkins?

  But he draws slowly, precariously closer to the lifeboat, until he can smell the diesel fumes from the engine.

• 22:10John Hopkins?

  There's a small, exposed platform with a guardrail just in front of the door to the cupboard cabin.

• 22:17John Hopkins?

  Jay aims for it and manages to get a foothold. As the cable snaps tight, he releases his winch hook, severing his connection with the aircraft.

• 22:30John Hopkins?

  Standing on that platform is like standing on a bucking bronco. Back and forth, side to side, the lifeboat seems determined to throw him into the water.

• 22:41John Hopkins?

  Inside the cabin, it's a grim scene.

• 22:46Speaker 04

  And then I leaned in to these really sad, sullen faces of the crew that were absolutely shoehorned in there in their survival suits. And there was probably two or three foot of a mixture of water, vomit, diesel. The smell was absolutely breathtaking. So I could see why they were all pretty miserable and they're just continually being sick. And they're all just squeezed in there.

• 23:17John Hopkins?

  Many of the crew seem to have given up. They're obviously in shock and by the looks of it severely dehydrated. Jay tries to chivvy them along, but they don't seem to understand what he's saying. His schoolboy French isn't getting him far.

• 23:31Speaker 04

  Because it was French registered, we were told, and I just said, "Bonjour, ça va?" Like really trying to be uplifting. And nobody spoke to me. Nobody spoke to me and they didn't converse in English. And I was like, "Oh, great."

• 23:47John Hopkins?

  Talking to the men is not just a question of putting them at ease. They have a part to play in their own rescue, to follow Jay's instructions. Understanding him or not understanding him could be the difference between life and death.

• 24:07John Hopkins?

  Jay gets straight to work.

• 24:10John Hopkins?

  He mentally triages the crew, identifying the weakest, the ones he has to rescue first. Back out on the platform, trying to communicate with the helicopter, he realises his radio is waterlocked. It's the last thing he needs.

• 24:28Speaker 04

  I've got to get them out, and I thought, how do I convey that to the aircraft without any communications?

• 24:35John Hopkins?

  Jay will have to rely on hand signals again.

• 24:38John Hopkins?

  And somehow, flailing his limbs through the spray and the bluster, he manages to make himself understood.

• 24:45Speaker 04

  They sent me down a high line, which I got. Then comes the winch hook, and I was saying, two times rescue strops. So they sent the rescue strops, and they put weighted bags as well on the bottom of the winch wire to stop it getting blown around so much. Oh my god, it was a mission. It was an absolute mission. It would go down to the wave height, and I ended up pulling these weighted bags, a winch, two strops that were like sea anchors, through the water, because the aircraft was obviously hovering just away from us. And that in itself was absolutely knackered. And I thought, I can't do this.

• 25:28John Hopkins?

  Hauling the weighty rescue line into the vessel, it quickly becomes obvious that Jay isn't going to be able to rescue two men at a time. Not with the two heavy strops, and not with the bulky immersion suits the crew are wearing.

• 25:40Speaker 04

  So I took one of the strops off, and I realised I'm going to have to do one at a time.

• 25:45John Hopkins?

  One at a time, in a race against time. The helicopter can't stay in the air forever, and there are other limitations too.

• 25:54Speaker 04

  There's only firstly so much time they've got before they have to go off task and refuel, and there's only so many seats we can give these people.

• 26:04John Hopkins?

  An already tough mission is growing tougher by the second.

• 26:09John Hopkins?

  But Jay has to just take things step by step.

• 26:17John Hopkins?

  He beckons the first sailor out onto the platform. With a firm nudge, he has the man kneel down so that he can fasten the harness around his body.

• 26:27John Hopkins?

  And it's now that the language barrier becomes a real obstacle. Something absolutely imperative has to be communicated to the sailor, or this rescue could go very wrong.

• 26:39Speaker 04

  Arms down by your side. Must have your arms down by your side because otherwise, they could slip out. And I'm not going with them because just this would take forever.

• 26:49John Hopkins?

  Jay mimics keeping his own arms in place at the sides of his body and hopes for the best.

• 26:58John Hopkins?

  The first man rises slowly into the air. And thankfully, he keeps his arms down as instructed.

• 27:06Speaker 04

  So that was quite emotional, and that was just number one.

• 27:10John Hopkins?

  Jay watches the man all the way up to the helicopter hatch before, finally, he sees him pulled to safety inside the sea king.

• 27:19John Hopkins?

  One down, or rather up. Twenty-five to go.

• 27:26Speaker 05

  Starting or growing your own business can be intimidating and lonely at times. Your to-do list may feel endless with new tasks and lists can easily begin to overrun your life. So finding the right tool that not only helps you out, but simplifies everything as a built-in business partner can be a game changer. For millions of businesses, that tool is Shopify. Shopify is the commerce platform behind millions of businesses around the world and 10% of all e-commerce in the US. From household names like Jimm Shark, Rare Beauty, and Heinz, to brands just getting started. Shopify has hundreds of ready-to-use templates that can help you build a beautiful online store that matches your brand's style. And you can tackle all the important tasks in one place,

• 28:11Speaker 05

  from inventory to payments to analytics and more. No need to save multiple websites or try to figure out what platform is hosting the tool that you need. And if people haven't heard about your brand, you can get the word out like you have a marketing team behind you with easy-to-run email and social media campaigns to reach customers wherever they're scrolling or strolling. Start your business today with the industry's best business partner, Shopify, and start hearing... Sign up for your $1 per month trial today at Shopify.com/real. Go to Shopify.com/real. That's Shopify.com/real.

• 28:51Speaker 00

  Your sausage McMuffin with egg didn't change. Your receipt did. The sausage McMuffin with egg extra value meal includes a hash brown and a small coffee for just $5. Only at McDonald's for a limited time.

• 29:03Speaker 01

  Pricing participation may vary. Promotion pricing may be lower than meal pricing.

• 29:06John Hopkins?

  The little orange lifeboat, overstuffed with sick and distressed men, continues to bounce through the tempest.

• 29:14John Hopkins?

  Jay's work has barely begun. But one by one, he barks at the sailors, instructing them to join him out on the deck. Each time, he has to tap the men on the back of their knees, forcing them to kneel down on the platform so he can get the harness on. Eventually, they see what's expected of them, and the process gets a little more efficient.

• 29:36John Hopkins?

  Before too long, he's got six or seven of the men safely inside Rescue 194. The storm shows no sign of abating.

• 29:44Speaker 04

  The life raft's really starting to move all over the place, even more than it was before. The boat's obviously going up and down these huge waves. The aircraft's climbing and descending, and the winch operator has to pay in cable and give you cable. So there's all these moving parts, all happening at the same time, in horrendous conditions.

• 30:04John Hopkins?

  Suddenly, the lifeboat plummets. The winch operator compensates by paying out more cable. But then, a 50-foot wave shoots the boat up, simultaneously spinning it round. The loose cable becomes tangled around the rails on the roof of the boat.

• 30:21John Hopkins?

  This freak combination of factors threatens to turn an emergency into a disaster.

• 30:28Speaker 04

  So not only is that the lifeline, but it's my lifeline as well. And the sea king only had one winch.

• 30:34John Hopkins?

  He quickly weighs up his options. He has to get on top of the lifeboat and free the cable.

• 30:40Speaker 04

  So in fifty, sixty foot waves, I'm now climbing on top of this life raft. And I suddenly felt extremely open to the environments, more than normal, because now I'm on top of this cork in the ocean. Trying to get the winch wire free. It's now leaning so bad that I've got my feet down on the other guardrail on the other side of it. As I'm trying to free the top guardrail with a winch wire in my left hand. And the wave built and the wave built and the wave built. And we kept going up, up, up this wave. And I'm clinging on for dear life.

• 31:20John Hopkins?

  The lifeboat is riding on the side of the wave, tilted over almost ninety degrees. All his years of experience, the months of rigorous training, it's of little help right now.

• 31:32Speaker 04

  I'm suddenly looking straight down this fifty foot wave. And I thought, oh, this game over. I just had a moment, a split second thought, that this scenario was impossible. It was impossible to win. It was impossible to get over because it felt like a near death moment.

• 31:58John Hopkins?

  Even if he survives this, without that lifeline, the rescue operation will end in failure.

• 32:06John Hopkins?

  And then, at his lowest moments, when all seems lost, a minor miracle seems to occur.

• 32:13Speaker 04

  You know, I wasn't thinking about anything else but the rescue mission. You don't. But in that split second, I thought, I'm toast. And then I had this moment where we weren't and somebody was helping me out. And to this day, I can't explain how a life raft like that with the weight that was in it and me on the top. And I was looking vertically down this wave and it stuck to a wave somehow, side on fifty, sixty foot up in the air. And the next minute it flipped on the crest of the wave. And I was leaning the other way and I'd freed the cable.

• 32:47John Hopkins?

  Somehow, the lifeboat has defied gravity and the line has been extricated. The rescue is back on.

• 32:58John Hopkins?

  Jay scrambles back down onto the platform.

• 33:01John Hopkins?

  What's happened seems to undermine all logic. It's like someone has intervened to save him.

• 33:07Speaker 04

  It's a weird experience because I'd not long lost my dad in 2006. In May, which is, you know, is awful for anybody and um. I don't know if I'd really dealt with it because I was just so busy and. Anyway, it was some time after and, and you know, obviously we're in the January following and then. And then I just felt like there was somebody, something, dad, helping me.

• 33:39John Hopkins?

  With the line freed, Jay barely misses a beat and gets back to his mission. Another guy, harness on, arms by the side, go, go, go. And repeat.

• 33:52John Hopkins?

  Eventually, half the Napoli crew are inside Rescue 194. The co-pilot signals that they have to head back to base. They're low on fuel and if they take on any more weight, they won't make it.

• 34:06Speaker 04

  I'm still on the life raft. I'm cold, I'm wet, I'm tired. It's been going on for some time now and we've got to start over again. So Rescue 193 comes in.

• 34:17John Hopkins?

  This is the helicopter whose commander turned Jay away earlier. But all that's forgotten now. There are more important things to worry about.

• 34:26Speaker 04

  They had extra fuel. They came in and they hovered. They gave me a high line. That went well. And the life raft is now bouncing because it's only got 12 plus me in it. And the, the storm's not giving up. No weather's not giving up. If anything, it's getting worse.

• 34:46John Hopkins?

  Jay keeps going. But as the rescue mission progresses, yet another somewhat unexpected issue develops.

• 34:54Speaker 04

  As the rescue boat got lighter, it got more skittish. It was getting thrown about even more than it was before. So it's squirming left to right and being flipped on the waves even more. At some point, I got the winch hooked straight in the middle of the forehead, which apparently was bleeding. It was bleeding when I got back.

• 35:18John Hopkins?

  Jay shakes off the blow to the head. He's nearly there now. Just a few more men to go. But then, a sailor steps forward who presents a problem. A big problem.

• 35:32Speaker 04

  And then we get to some six foot seven, I'm gonna say, giant of a man. He had a duffel bag in his hand. I get it, it's got all his worldly belongings, it's probably got photos, letters, tech, I don't know, that he was adamant it was going with him, and I said, no.

• 35:53Speaker 04

  And then he looked really angry.

• 35:56John Hopkins?

  With communication breaking down and no time to lose, Jay takes a big swing. Literally.

• 36:03Speaker 04

  I had to punch him in the arm to release his duffel bag. And then at the same point, and hoping I wasn't gonna get a punch in the face, get a rescue drop on him and get him outside.

• 36:14John Hopkins?

  Despite Jay's fears, the big man doesn't hit back. But as he continues to wrestle with him, trying to get him onto his knees so he can fit the harness, what happens next is far worse than a punch in the face.

• 36:28Speaker 04

  And then the boat pitched and rolled dramatically and he went over the side. And I'm holding on to him, and I'm not attached to the boat or anything. And he's now at the side of the boat in the water, and he's in this rescue drop, and I'm holding his weight up. Thinking this is the hardest job of my life now, because he's got some real weight. And of course, as the boat pitched, you get like twice or three times the force of gravity. And it took all of my energy to wait my turn, hold on to him, keep his head above water, keep the rescue hoist clear of entanglements, and then at that right moment, get him light, get the boat pitching and pull him back onto the platform. He was looking even less happy by then.

• 37:15John Hopkins?

  Wet, shivering and dumbfounded, the giant sailor is finally secured and lifted into the helicopter.

• 37:26John Hopkins?

  There are only a handful of men left, but that last rescue has left Jay totally drained.

• 37:33Speaker 04

  Oh my god, I was so tired. But you're just running off adrenaline. You're literally surviving this storm on this ridiculous skittish liveboat with these survivors, and you're the help, you're the rescue. So you just plow on. And I thought, you've just got to keep going until the point where they just call it off and they say no.

• 37:54John Hopkins?

  The question is, when will that happen? When will Jay's team call it a day?

• 38:00John Hopkins?

  And will he have to leave anyone behind?

• 38:10John Hopkins?

  Jay looks up through the swirling sea mist as the 23rd survivor is winched to safety. The helicopter above is packed with trembling men.

• 38:21John Hopkins?

  He sees one of the aircrew on Rescue 193 hold up 10 fingers, which means Jay has 10 minutes to get the remaining sailors and himself up into the helicopter. It's going to be tight.

• 38:35Speaker 04

  Rescue 193 was desperately short of fuel, and they're flagging to me, "10 minutes, 10 minutes", and I've got two or three people left, and I'm starting to bricket thinking, "I'm staying on this thing. I hope somebody's coming back for me."

• 38:50John Hopkins?

  Jay steps up the pace and somehow races through the last few men. It's a blur of shouts and crashes and straps and lines, all as the helicopter's fuel reserves rapidly dwindle.

• 39:03John Hopkins?

  At last, crumbling with exhaustion, Jay looks up as the final man is unbuckled from the line.

• 39:11John Hopkins?

  Will the hook come back down for him? Or will 193 be forced to leave him behind?

• 39:18John Hopkins?

  Thankfully, the cable starts to descend. Jay's muscles are on fire as he pulls on the line for one last time.

• 39:27John Hopkins?

  He knows 193 must have gone over the 10-minute cutoff point by now. The aircraft is running on empty.

• 39:34John Hopkins?

  But it's clear, they're not going to leave him there.

• 39:39John Hopkins?

  Finally, the hook reaches him. He fastens it to his own harness. He gives the thumbs up and feels the cable tighten as the winch starts to haul him in.

• 39:50John Hopkins?

  With his last vestiges of energy, Jay gets a handhold on the helicopter's rail. He pulls himself inside as quickly as he can so the pilot can get going without any further delay.

• 40:06John Hopkins?

  Jay squeezes himself into a space near the door and looks around the crowded chopper. One of the rescued sailors reaches out to shake his hand and thank him. Others follow suit.

• 40:19Speaker 04

  And we just looked around and we all smiled and I was like, "Whew, that was a good job. Wow." And that's the realisation is then, "Oh, thank God for that. That's actually gone really well in something that could have so easily gone really, really badly, really quickly, as they do." And then you get a sense of relief.

• 40:40John Hopkins?

  The moment is made stranger by the fact that Jay's now inside the helicopter that didn't want him earlier.

• 40:45Speaker 04

  And that was it with the crew that told me to get out and get my kit out. And everybody kind of looked and just nodded and said, "Yeah, good job. Well done."

• 40:58Speaker 00

  Your sausage McMuffin with egg didn't change. Your receipt did. The sausage McMuffin with egg extra value meal includes a hash brown and a small coffee for just $5. Only at McDonald's for a limited time.

• 41:10Speaker 01

  Price and participation may vary. Promotion pricing may be lower than meal pricing.

• 41:13Speaker 02

  Sam's Club is the club for every holiday club. Guess who's joining the club this season? Walmart Plus. Yep, Sam's Club Plus membership now comes with Walmart Plus at no extra cost. Two memberships, one great price. Just $120 a year can save you time and over $700. Want to get in on the membership duo of the century? Visit sam'sclub.com. Come join us. Sam's Club.

• 41:34Speaker 06

  Annual plan only. Auto-renews. T and C apply. Estimate based on average combined Walmart Plus and Sam's Club Plus savings among members of both for one plus year versus non-member or club member pricing/fees. Excludes membership fees. See Walmart Plus terms and Sam's Club terms for more info.

• 41:44John Hopkins?

  With his fuel gauge virtually on empty, Rescue 193 darts through the sky, somehow making it back to the casualty reception area in Kildros just in time.

• 41:55Speaker 04

  And I walked them in. I wanted to walk them in. It just felt natural to walk them because we always look after people coming in and out of the aircraft that's rotors running for safety. I took them in and there was a whole host of Navy people there, you know, all of our friends and colleagues that were getting them warm, giving them telephones, food, water, soup, all of that good stuff, you know?

• 42:18John Hopkins?

  Job done.

• 42:20John Hopkins?

  With the crewman being cared for, Jay takes himself away. He carries his dive bag back to the base. Remarkably, he immediately starts prepping for his next shift.

• 42:31Speaker 04

  It was the weirdest thing because I came in and just, just, that's done now, it's behind me. So get in the squadron, get all the kit ready, get everything squared away, go and get the mop and bucket, you know, back to normality. And I'm walking in with my dive bag over my back, I think, and in my wet suit, squidgy feet, bit chilly, starting to warm up. And the air station was quite quiet and everyone was on the balcony.

• 43:03Speaker 04

  And they clapped me in.

• 43:06Speaker 04

  I thought they were taking the Mickey.

• 43:09Speaker 04

  I was like, get off!

• 43:12John Hopkins?

  The applause is sincere.

• 43:16John Hopkins?

  While Jay was down on the lifeboat, single-handedly battling the elements to get 26 men to safety, a fellow crewman was filming it all from the hovering sea king. The camera's been linked up to the base television to show the footage.

• 43:31Speaker 04

  And so, everybody was hooked to that, to see the events unfold and they were like, "Oh my god, that was big, that was really rough." And they clapped me in, which, you know, that was amazing, that was a good feeling.

• 43:48John Hopkins?

  It starts to become clear that Jay has done something special. And others think so too.

• 43:54Speaker 04

  The media entourage was at Coldros waiting for interviews. The boss was like, Jay, everybody wants you for an interview.

• 44:03John Hopkins?

  But before he faces the media circus, he needs a moment to gather his thoughts, to fully take in what he has endured and accomplished today.

• 44:14Speaker 04

  And like, seriously, I've been out all day. I'm absolutely soaking and I just need a shower and a change.

• 44:23John Hopkins?

  When he's ready, Jay goes to the hangar where the reporters are gathered and gives a string of interviews.

• 44:31John Hopkins?

  It's 9pm before he gets home. As he pulls up onto the drive, he remembers that he never got round to calling his wife Louise to tell her that he was working an extra shift that day.

• 44:42John Hopkins?

  Fortunately, she'd already found out from another source.

• 44:47Speaker 04

  It's the evening news, 6 o'clock news. My wife's mother is on the phone to her going, have you seen the TV? Turn on the news, turn on the news. And that's when my wife realised where I'd been all day when I was supposed to be home at 9 in the morning.

• 45:03John Hopkins?

  A few months later, Jay travels to Buckingham Palace to receive the Queen's Gallantry Medal.

• 45:10John Hopkins?

  After that, there are further awards, both for Jay and the crews of Rescue 193 and 194.

• 45:20John Hopkins?

  Eventually, it all truly sinks in, but he acknowledges he didn't do it on his own.

• 45:28Speaker 04

  It's a huge team effort. Every part of it, just because I was the guy on the wire, the guy on the lifeboat. That's kind of my training, that was my choice. And yeah, it was nice to be recognised afterwards as well, but everybody from, you know, the air station goes above and beyond. The air traffickers give you, you know, priority and everything you could want. The engineers get the whole squadron up and ready. They've already got your aircraft service ball ready to go 24/7. Everybody and the rest of Coldros that then got involved with warming people and feeding them is just an amazing, amazing effort all round.

• 46:08John Hopkins?

  Eighty lives were lost during Cyclone Kirill. If it hadn't been for Jay, the death toll would have been 106.

• 46:17John Hopkins?

  He says that from time to time, he wonders how he got through it, reflecting on the sheer toughness that mission required.

• 46:25Speaker 04

  It was having the mental resilience, having the physical resilience. I was always really fit and trained hard, and that helps your mental health. I'm a massive firm believer in that. It's not wanting to let people down. Your crew, the people on that boat. Always do your best, always work hard, don't give up. If you need to work harder, work harder, no matter how you feel about it. And really, you then can apply that to the whole of your life. Everyone has ups and downs, isn't it? That's life. But yeah, never give up, just soldier on and keep going. And I think if you're kind to people, you always try to help. Eventually, it will come good for you.

• 47:11John Hopkins?

  Next time on Real Survival Stories. What happens when hundreds of millions of electrical volts strike the human body? We meet a man who knows. Slovakian Andrei Oragvani is a lover of the great outdoors. In July 2012, weeks before the birth of his second baby, Andrei and two friends head to the western Tatra Mountains to enjoy three peaceful days of backpacking. But the weather has other plans for their trip. And suddenly, they find themselves stranded atop a precarious peak during a violent thunderstorm. It's only a matter of time before lightning strikes, and the friends will bear the full force of one of the greatest powers in nature.

• 47:59John Hopkins?

  That's next time on Real Survival Stories. Listen today without waiting a week by subscribing to Noiser Plus.

• 48:07Speaker 00

  Your sausage McMuffin with egg didn't change. Your receipt did. The sausage McMuffin with egg extra value meal includes a hash brown and a small coffee for just $5. Only at McDonald's for a limited time.

• 48:19Speaker 01

  Price and participation may vary. Promotion pricing may be lower than meal pricing.

• 48:22Speaker 02

  Sam's Club is the club for every holiday club. Guess who's joining the club this season? Walmart Plus. Yep, Sam's Club Plus membership now comes with Walmart Plus at no extra cost. Two memberships, one great price. Just $120 a year can save you time and over $700. Want to get in on the membership duo of the century? Visit samsgclub.com. Come join us. Sam's Club.

• 48:43Speaker 06

  Annual plan only. Auto renews. T and C apply. Estimate based on average combined Walmart Plus and Sam's Club Plus savings among members of both for 1+ year versus non-member or club member pricing/fees. Excludes membership fees. See Walmart Plus terms and Sam's Club terms for more info.