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Written by Administrator
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Sunday, 04 March 2007 |
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Victor Knock
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letter from devon and cornwall police
| Victor Knock was an active member of Ilfracombe Dive Club,
In the Very early Days.
Also being the owner of the Ilfracombe Pier Hotel, he kindly provided the space for one of the club's first compressor unit's.
Victor is placed here in the Hall of Fame because he went above and beyond to try and rescue a young lad, that had apparently fallen off Ilfracombe Pier.
The Story goes;
It was around 1:00 am when Mrs Knock heard a commotion outside the Pier Hotel so she went outside to investigate. There where police officers everywhere and she enquired as to why they where there. Mrs Knock was told that a young boy had gone missing and it was believed that he had been fishing from the Pier. When asked what they were doing to find him, the Police officers told her that they were going to wait until first light and then send down a diving team to which she replied, I as a Mother would be frantic and would want to know that everything that could be done was being done now. She said that my Father would gladly dive off the Pier and search for the boy. She then went and told my Father who without hesitation called his friend and diving partner Deni Booker to assist him in the search. They donned the appropriate gear and commenced their search. As you can imagine it was very dark and visibility was poor. They searched for quite some time to no avail. Just as they were about to resurface my Father saw what he thought was a spider crab for an instant from the light of his torch. This troubled him enough to take another look and that is when the boy was found. The spider crab was in fact the boys hand. She recalls my Father saying that his instinct was to cuddle the child, so he held him close to him and recalls telling him that he was safe now and everything was going to be alright. Please understand that this comment was more of a primitive instinct than an actually logical thought.
I know that this lived with my Father for the rest of his life. He rarely spoke of it other than to say that he hoped he gave the boys family closure.
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This information was given by his daughter Joy
Our sympathy goes out to the Pert family for thier loss and may he never be forgoten.
In loving memory of Victor Thomas Knock 1928 -
1989
Brian Watt's Brian Watt's is a Founder Member of the Ilfracombe Dive Club and he is still actively diving to this very day ! Brian is a wealth of knowledge and experience Brian was one of the team to retreive the Weasle Cannon in 1968!  The divers - Gerry Ash - Jack Stocks - Basil Cartlidge - Brian Watts - Brian Burch - Mick Comber
and the kids (always part of the Ilfsac scene)
In 1966, after a number of dives off Baggy Point, which is known to be a rather dangerous part of the coast, three cannons were found in about 20ft of water only a few yards offshore. The interest in the wreck simmered for two years with just one attempt possible in 1967, which in fact had to be called off at the last minute due to adverse weather conditions. It was not until Sunday 4th August 1968 that everything was favourable for a second try. Although the cannon was not particully valuable it sparked a lot of interest in members joining the club. more information available from here
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 06 March 2007 )
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