Book description
'The sky had gone: in its place was a wall of water, white horses
on the top, readying itself to fall on me.'
What kind of man throws himself out of a helicopter in a storm?
Or dangles by a thread over mountainous waves?
Or strikes a panicking sailor to save his life?
Aircrewman Jay O'Donnell, a former Royal Navy Search and Rescue
diver, has seen - and lived - it all. Scrambled at a moment's notice,
in all weathers - but usually the worst - he and the crew of Sea King
Rescue 194 have braved some of the most frightening storms ever to
lash the UK.
In this gripping account, O'Donnell describes the mix of bravery and
terror that comes with every call. He explains the rigours of
training; tells of grisly tasks like fishing bodies out the sea;
conveys the horror of being winched 80 feet in a storm while clutching
a squirming baby, or being dragged through freezing waters on a loose line.
Culminating in the astonishing, hair-raising rescue of 26 crew from
the MSC Napoli disaster in Cornwall, January 2007 - where O'Donnell
was decorated for his courage and refusal to give up in appalling
conditions - Rescue 194 is an unforgettable tribute to the Royal
Navy's search and rescue crews.
Petty Officer Aircrewman Jay O'Donnell joined the Royal Navy in
1990. He qualified as one of a handful of Search and Rescue divers in
1995. He's now stationed at RNAS Culdrose in Cornwall, flying with 814
Naval Air Squadron aboard Merlin anti-submarine helicopters. He was
awarded the Queen's Gallantry Medal for the rescue of the crew of the
MSC Napoli.
Co-author Humphrey Price is a writer and editor with twenty years'
experience of working in publishing. He lives in London.
