A Grim Search of Brighton's Coastline by Lifeboat and Helicopter

Last evening, just after dusk, I went for a walk along Hove seafront, in the direction of Brighton. 

The West Pier, copyright Gareth Cameron

There was a boat with searchlights drifting along the near the shoreline and soon I came to a coastguard's van. As I walked on, a man hurried up to me and asked if I had spoken to the coastguard. I hadn't. When something is clearly under control, I don't bother anyone, as I feel those involved have enough to do without having inane questions fired at them from outsiders.

But the man who approached me knew what had happened. He  told me that someone from the flats opposite had seen a man, who was very agitated, running up the beach. He walked into the sea just as dusk was falling. He was fully clothed. No one would go swimming in a cold sea with dusk falling, least of all fully dressed, so it was clearly a suicide. A bereavement, a divorce, being dumped by a partner. Who knows what was going through his mind?

The trouble is, the man explained, it's hard to find someone in the sea, because not only does the tide here go in and out, there is also a strong drift to the east.  Then there are the two piers, the wrecked west pier, and the Palace Pier with its fairground and arcades. Bodies can get caught up in all the debris beneath the piers.

Later, besides the boat  (all I could see of this were lights and a searchlight back in front)  a helicopter scoured the coastline, travelling east, then west, slowly looking for any sign of a body. It was, I think, too late to expect to find the person alive, although I suppose, you never know.

How sad that he felt the need to do it, and also that he couldn't bring himself to find solace in a friend or family member.  Of course, a few miles to the east, close to Eastbourne, there is Beachy Head and there have been two suicides there just recently, where desperate people have thrown themselves off the clifftop.

As the man said goodbye, he mentioned that probably the body would be found by a dogwalker in the morning. "It's usually the dogwalkers who find them," he told me.  I feel sorry for anyone who finds something like that, and can only admire those whose job it is to do the searching.

I will be very careful in future of my friends. It's so important to watch out for signs of despair, and maybe a sympathetic chat and a little bit of kindness, can help someone pull through the darkest of days.