# Boy missing from rowing boat



## Pompeyfan (Aug 9, 2005)

A 14 year boy is missing off Portland, Dorset after he and his 14 year friend stole a rowing boat in Portlant Harbour. When the boat drifted out of harbour they phoned 999 on their mobile. The operator kept talking to them for 45 minutes before the phone went dead. The missing boys friend was rescued, but the boat was found capsized hence the break in communication. They are still searching for the missing boy. The incident happened in the early hours of Sunday.

This is another example of youngsters or indeed anybody taking to sea ill prepared because neither lad was dressed for the occasion according to local radio. However, the unusual thing about this is that those who get into difficulty are usually holidaymakers who know nothing about the area or indeed boats. These lads, though clearly having a bit of fun as all lads do, were local and would have known the area and how rough it can become in a short space of time which indeed it did. They did the right thing in phoning 999 even though they should have not been there in the first place. But yet again it seems like another tragic waste of a young life, and another families life in ruins, and so close to Christmas as well.

Lets hope he will still be found. David


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## hasse neren (Oct 20, 2006)

Yes this was sad to hear, i´m an old sailor and got three kids off my on, and i always told them: respect the sea or the sea will take you.


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## Pompeyfan (Aug 9, 2005)

Since I first posted this story, the boy has still not been found 36 hours after he went missing and search has now been scaled down with darkness fallen. David


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## Phill (Jun 17, 2005)

Just a bad prank gone sadly wrong, 
The Daily Mirror Paper, it appears 2 school Boys both 14 pinched a rowing boat at 2am on Sunday in the middle of a ragging storm, rescuers found one of the boys at 3.10am

My heart goes out to both of the Families,


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## 6639 (Apr 20, 2006)

there sadly,but for the grace of god,goes many of us in our early and experimental life.god bless him and his family at this sad time.


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## STRAWBERRY (Jan 11, 2006)

Today (tues) Parents are still hoping that he is alive but afraid to come home due to embarrasment, If only that was the case, but unfortunately I fear the worst for them. Why two 14 year olds were allowed to be out on the streets at 0200-0330 is beyond me? Parents don't seem to instil much disapline nowdays. Please correct me if you think I'm Wrong!! Andy


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## Pompeyfan (Aug 9, 2005)

You are not wrong at all Andy. 

Discipline went out of the window years ago thanks to the PC correct world. And parents who lose a child for whatever reason sometimes refuse to believe their son or daughter could be dead if missing as in this case, go into denial or blame everybody but themselves even when the body is found. It is part of the grieving process or in this case the hope that they still may be alive. Parents going through such hell need something to cling to. Others however do blame themselves when they were not to blame putting further pressure on themselves. This once again is part of the grieving process.

People say that boys will be boys and that we did this or that for a bit of fun when younger. But try telling that to grieving parents hoping it may ease their pain. One of my staff still learning the job once told a chap who lost his 18 year son in a motor bike accident that he knew how he felt. When the dad asked if the staff member had lost a child he said he had not. In that case said the father, you have absolutely no idea how it feels. And he was right. Unless we have been there, we don't. We all try to say something to help ease a persons grief, but unless we have been in that position or worked with death like I did for so many years it is almost impossible to put yourself in their shoes as hard as we may try. All we can do is try to make sure others don't fall into the same trap even if that curtails boys being boys. David


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## Ian (Mar 27, 2004)

Hi David
This is a very sad case indeed, talking of Discipline it does not exist in this day & age unfortunatlely, I was at the Royal Merchant Navy School, during the war, we had discipline, breakfast,dinner & tea, it did no harm at all, but what it did do was teach us right from wrong, and that has stayed with me for my 70 years, it seems these days anything go,s and that is wrong, something wrong with the system somewhere, or is it the system? We have reports of this kind of behaviour all over the U.K. at the boys age they should have been at home at that time, so sad, if they were my children at that age they would have been home, no doubt about it.


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## billyboy (Jul 6, 2005)

my condolences to the parents. but however thats just one boy. I dont hear any sympaththy for the boat load that sunk here. divers are still searching for the bodies of many believed to have gone down with the ship. (see thread ferry capsises) these were innocent kids returning to the mainland after a scholl education trip. 14 of which drowned almost instantly. lates estimate is that there are approximatly 21 still inside the ferry.


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## Pompeyfan (Aug 9, 2005)

I know exactly what you mean Billy. We seem to make more of something that is on our doorsteps than the other side of the world. But that does not mean there is no sympathy for the ferry capsizing near you. It does not matter whether it is local or thousands of miles away, it is still a tragedy. Words will not make it any better for the parents of those children drowned or still trapped, but the only thing that made my job a little easier to cope with when handling one or many deaths whether children or adults was to hope that lessons would be learned so that others would not suffer the same fate. David


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## John Rogers (May 11, 2004)

It always ends up that the Ferry was overloaded in most cases. Very sad indeed.
John


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## Pompeyfan (Aug 9, 2005)

This story has and even sadder twist because the parents of both lads had no idea their son's had gone. Both were supposed to be in their bedrooms. Radio Solent had the mother of the boy who was rescued on the breakfast programme this morning. She picked up the courage to speak about what happened, although her son was too upset to speak. She had no idea that her son had gone thinking he was in his bedroom. The first they knew that he was not in his bedroom was when the police called. Both lads had sneaked out without either parents knowledge. Having had another tragedy in the area last year when two lads were swept out to sea by a freak wave, they are now getting together with the family of another lad who drowned to try and warn others of the dangers of the sea. Therefore, hopefully, something positive will come out of these tragedies making sure others do not fall into the same trap. And the only way to do that is publicity whether it be in this country or wherever. 

This was not a case of irresponsible parents but boys being boys. David


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## Ian (Mar 27, 2004)

Hi David,
We were all boys once, in my era we would never have thought about going to sea with a stolen boat, we would not have even thought about it, it belonged to someone else,so you do not touch.yes there are lessons to be learned, so someone has got to start teaching, respect your parents, do as you are told by your parents,and you get through the early stages of life in most cases, sadly it was  a case of both children  plotting not a prank but a crime, and it went the wrong way, Discipline & Respect, are probably the the most important words we learn in life,without them we are lost in the fog, and we have all been there at sea, condolences to both families, Rgds Bill Atkins


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