By Dolores Sauca Lorusso 

Recently, on two separate occasions, beachgoers became rescuers at Nantasket Beach when they jumped in to save people who found themselves in trouble in the water.

“In these two incidents, all parties involved are lucky to have been in the immediate area of bystanders who were willing to render assistance,” said Hull Fire Department Deputy Chief William Frazer.

It was nearly dusk on Tuesday Sept. 5 when volleyball players heard cries for help coming from the water and “without hesitation” jumped the seawall and ran straight into the ocean. 

A young man was drowning, and his friend was unable to get him back in. According to accounts from those who went in to help, neither of the men spoke English, but both allowed the group to take turns helping the victim stay afloat.

Paul Dunphy made it out to the man and his friend first; he found the man “just limp.” Dunphy said this was different than what he expected, because in stories he had heard “drowning victims climb on their rescuers in fear for their lives and can bring them down too.

“When we finally got him ashore, the EMTs said if we had gotten there a minute later the guy would have been gone,” he said.

Dunphy was quickly joined by fellow volleyballers Robert J. (RJ) Ronan, Carl Decosta, and George Whelan, who “tag-teamed” with him to hold the man above water.

As dusk quickly turned to darkness, the group became aware they were fighting a rip current. Dunphy, who grew up around the water in Hull, recalled Decosta, who served in the military, saying, “Gentlemen, we are in a riptide, swim sideways to the hotel.”

The group was not aware their team members on the beach could not see them anymore, but a group of their teammates was watching and tracking them from the water in case they needed to assist.

“It happened so fast, at first I didn’t know who went in the water,” said Mary Dunphy, a fellow team member and Paul’s mother. “They were probably in the water about 15 or 20 minutes, but it seemed way longer. Thank God it ended well.”

Whelan said that earlier, two surfers down the beach had noticed the group running into the water and “thought with the rough surf it didn’t seem right,” and headed their way. When the surfers, Robert Hutchins and his friend Barry, known in surfing circles as “The Legend,” reached the group they gave up their boards.

When the group saw the surfers coming, they knew they were in “good shape.” Whelan described how they put the victim on the long board and, except for RJ who swam in, they all hung on while he also had the cord to the short board whose surfer began “sculling” them in.

“People began yelling to us, ‘You can stand. It is chest and neck deep,’” he said. “We held the drowning guy and smashed through the waves; he was rubber-legging. To lose the guy in the surf would have been horrible..”

“That was the scariest thing I have ever witnessed. The undertow and waves were beyond belief,” said volleyball team coordinator Mary Gagnon, who was one of the people to call 911. “They moved forward and the tide pulled them right back out. I was sobbing, afraid I was going to have to tell someone’s Mom they were gone…We have heroes amongst us.”

Melanie Whelan, George’s wife and aunt of Dunphy and Joshua Malcolm Whelan, who also went in the water, said “if those two surfers had not come when they did, this might be a very different story.”

“It was a huge group effort. Multiple people called the police and didn’t assume someone else called,” Whelan said. “The day I helped save someone’s life is huge, but the biggest hero is the guy’s friend, who stayed with him and supported him for a while before we came.”

“At the end of the day, the team came together very well. We got done what we needed to get done,” said Decosta, who, when someone said “God was watching all of you,” replied, “God always has my back.” Whelan shared he even has a cross tattoo on his back to illustrate it.

Just two days later, on the afternoon of Thursday Sept. 7, a life threatening undertow created another rip current situation which found two “self-described” non-swimmers over their heads beyond the swells struggling for their lives.

Frazier told the Times the swimmers involved were a man and a woman, both in their 20s. The Hull Fire Department rescue vessel was launched, but the bystanders were able to get the swimmers to shore prior to fire department members reaching them.

In a letter to the Times, a witness, S. Walsh of Onset Street, described “blood-curdling screeches” coming from the water.

“Almost immediately, all who heard it stood and pointed to the water. An action-oriented woman near me said ‘Whose surfboard? Get out there – somebody is drowning.’ I grabbed my keepsake surfboard of my youth and headed into the surf. I didn’t see anybody but clearly heard the cry for help beyond the high breakers and foam. There was a very visible rip tide current heading straight out, several other would-be helpers waded in and felt the strong undertow and pulled back out of the water.”

Assisted by a stand-up paddle boarder and a couple with a paddle board, the four put the two struggling swimmers on the boards and saved their lives.

“It was an honor to be with good people, doing good things,” Walsh said. “Today, we’d do well to keep an open eye for such opportunities.”

Dunphy shared a comment that someone made to him which applies to both these rescues: “One small force can summon more forces of good to intervene…it only takes one person not to be a bystander.” He wanted to remind people they should “remember to call 911 first, intervene if able, tell people to look for a floatation device, and surfers save lives.”

“In both these cases, bystanders played a role in these rescues. This speaks to the good that is within all people and their willingness to help,” Frazier said. “Unfortunately, during the hectic activities surrounding these events we were unable to obtain the names of the bystanders that assisted.”

Do you have an opinion on this issue? Click here to write a Letter to the Editor.