'˜I didn't have time to think': How a Wightlink ferry worker jumped into the water to rescue a man

Steve Chamberlain, who works on Wightlink’s St Clare, was with colleagues alongside Camber Dock, in Portsmouth, when he heard the shout ‘man overboard’.

The crew spotted the man in the water, around 11pm on Saturday night, and tried to throw a life ring to him.

But after a few failed attempts, Steve, from Hilsea, took off his coat and plunged into the freezing waters.

The 46-year-old said: ‘We were working along the dock doing some maintenance work before our next trip to the Isle of Wight when a colleague suddenly shouted “man overboard”.

‘We all jumped into action, I radioed the bridge to let them know and someone threw the life buoy out to him.

‘But I could see he wasn’t reacting to it and wouldn’t be able to hold on.

‘So I took my coat off and jumped in the water. It was the only way I thought he was going to make it.’

Steve said he remembered jumping in, going under water and taking his first sharp breath when he was back above the surface.

He then swam three metres to the man, lifted his head to keep it out of the water and grabbed hold of the life buoy.

Steve added: ‘I would guess I was in the water about six minutes but it could have been more than that or less.

‘I believe he had been in there for more than 10 minutes so it was important to get him out.’

The two men were helped out of the water by Steve’s fellow crew members Paul Cooke, Robbie Mihell and Chris Fremantle. They were taken onto the pontoon, in Broad Street, where paramedics were waiting.

Both Steve and the man were taken to hospital for hypothermia.

Steve went back to work yesterday after the dramatic incident and said he has been trying not to think about it.

‘Things like that can play on your mind so I am trying to think about other things,’ he said.

‘I don’t think it has hit me yet what happened, maybe it will later.

‘We are trained to deal with these situations because of our jobs but when it actually happened, I didn’t have time to think.

‘I could see that someone was going to lose their life so I just acted instinctively.

‘I’m grateful to my fellow crew members for their support.’

Wightlink operations director Daryl Palmer said they were proud of Steve and his colleague.

He added: ‘It was a cold winter’s night and I’m sure the man would have died from hypothermia if he had not been spotted by the crew and rescued by Steve.’