June, 1839.
On the 20th June, 1839, a boat from H.M. sloop 'Fairy,' was sent up
the river Stour to obtain a supply of water. The weather was
squally, and the boat was completely overturned in the middle of the
river by a sudden gust of wind. The crew were precipitated into the
sea without any prospect of relief, there being no boat nearer to
them than the town of Harwich. Providentially an officer of the ship
discovered the catastrophe, and two boats were instantly despatched
to their aid, but it was thirty minutes before they reached them.
One of the crew, George Cochrane, could not swim, and Henry Johnson,
regardless of himself, devoted his whole efforts to succour him, and
finding him to be encumbered with heavy clothing, actually stripped
him in the water to his shirt, and when washed away from the keel of
the boat, restored him to it again.
Another man, named John Stevens, at the expiration of twenty minutes,
became exhausted and came also under Johnson's care, and both
acknowledged that had it not been for his exertions they must have
perished.