HMS Sultan sailor awarded for his bravery saving a man's life

Chief petty officer engineering technician Stew Jayes, who works at HMS Sultan, was presented with a Royal Human Society award for his quick action to save an unresponsive driver back in 2018.

Stew, now 43, was riding his motorcycle along the M27 when he noticed a delivery van collide with the central reservation and continue on out of control. He rode his motorcycle alongside it and used his bike to keep other vehicles out of the van’s path to prevent further accidents.

When the van finally came to rest in the third lane of the motorway, Stew parked his bike and ran across three lanes of traffic where he found the driver not breathing and with no pulse.

Due to the vehicle’s position and the traffic still flowing in the other two lanes, Stew decided the safest place to help him would be the third lane. Organising other drivers to help, he extracted the driver and immediately began CPR on him, continuing until the emergency services arrived and took over.

After being given his award by commanding officer Captain John Voyce RN, Stew said: ‘It’s been quite a while since the incident but I’m still just as proud that I was able to help that gentleman that morning.

‘As a member of the Royal Navy, the first aid and emergency training I’ve received and situations I’ve encountered over the years combined to enable me to assist that poor man in his time of need.’

The driver of the van made a full recovery and has since returned to work.

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Stew, who lives with his wife Holly and six-year-old son Frankie, joined the Royal Navy in 1997 and has served across the world, including the far east, Caribbean, Arctic and Antarctic Seas and Afghanistan, and on board eight ships. While aboard HMS Echo in 2014, he was involved in the search for Flight MH370.

Speaking about his time in Afghanistan he said: ‘I was part of a team working in Kandahar facilitating a radio network across the Southern command region of Afghanistan. I worked in a multi-national environment in order to help and inform the local people.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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