June 10th 1929

Policeman's full-dress dive to rescue two men

A Wallasey policeman named David Prendergast dived fully dressed into the river Mersey yesterday to the rescue of two young men who were trying to swim ashore from a sinking canvas canoe.

It was near high tide at the time, and the river was rather rough, and it was with some difficulty that all three men were rescued by lifebelts and a small boat manned by a fisherman named Frank Hughes. Prendergast and one of the youths, Kenneth Sheridan, aged nineteen, of Elgin Drive, were taken to hospital, where Sheridan was detained. PC Prendergast was able to go home after treatment.

Rescues/Swimming

Constable David Prendergast, who lived at 9 Rappart Road in Seacombe, was on duty at New Brighton one summer's afternoon and went to investigate a commotion going on by the pier slipway. People had gathered when they heard that Betty Moore, a 16 year-old Birkenhead girl, had been bathing close to the slipway when she was carried off her feet and taken out into the river. Six men, including a 70 year-old, had entered the water in hoping to reach her but had failed. Constable Prendergast, who was noted for his rescues, saw what had happened, dashed through the crowd and jumped fully-clothed into the water. He succeeded in getting hold of the girl and brought her back to the slipway where he applied artificial respiration. The ambulance was summoned and the girl was taken to the hospital.

At the Prize Giving evening, Constable Prendergast's rescue was mentioned. He had twice been able to save a life through life saving methods. He had also had a narrow escape in his effort in another rescue a few weeks before the meeting. He received the Bronze medal of the Liverpool Shipwreck and Humane Society.