John Honey

Who was John Honey?

John Honey became famous as a nineteen-year-old student of the University of St Andrews. On January 3, 1800, he was attending a service at St Salvator's Chapel when the congregation received news that a small ship, the Janet of Macduff, had run aground east of the town harbour. Five men were stranded in the sea and, at the time, there was no lifeboat stationed in the town. A crowd had gathered, but the sea was stormy and no-one would dare attempt a rescue.

However, Honey, apparently determined not to let the men drown without attempting a rescue, stripped off his clothes, had fellow students tie a rope around him, took a knife, and entered the water. After a false start when his friends thought he would be unable to reach the men and pulled him back ashore, Honey struck out once more, reached and boarded the sinking boat and brought from it a rope back to the shore, to serve as a lifeline to allow the men to escape. However, the crew were too weary to make the journey to shore alone, so Honey made five more trips to and from the boat, taking each man to safety in turn, before collapsing of exhaustion on the shore.