Summary

Isobel Keith Word on the Week 8th August 2026.
The hot weather this summer has attracted many to rivers and beaches. In fact, any stretch of water offers the temptation to cool off. This is often done on impulse. This is where the danger lies. Stretches of water are never neutral. They have currents, pot-holes and, in the sea, tides.
So it is each summer there is heartache for the survivors of drowning incidents. No amount of notices warning of the danger or broadcast appeals to take care puts an end to the drownings.
It was our practice to swim in the sea just South of where the river Ythan had its estuary. It was a place where the salmon fishers fixed their nets. There would be a long lead from the shore, to direct the salmon into three net ‘rooms’ each one smaller than the last.
It was an effective way to catch salmon in the days when it was not a threatened species. We were always instructed to swim beyond the nets well away from where the river entered the sea. The seabed was sandy and safe except in an offshore wind.
This particular day Isobel was swimming out of her depth and, finding herself being blown out to sea, cried out for help. My older cousin, George Ross, came to the shore to borrow my tyre which I used for buoyancy. He swam out to Isobel and passed on the tyre but she was in trauma and rejected it.
Sadly, she was swept out to sea being caught up in the Ythan’s flow and wind. By the time the lifeboat was launched Isobel was drowned.
Could the tragedy have been averted? Yes, if George had learned how to life save. But no-one could life save in those days. If the salmon nets were pitched further away from the estuary with its strong river stream (there was the suggestion that they had been moved nearer the river to catch more fish). This was never proved.
The main opportunity was my tyre. It offered buoyancy in the deeper water. Had Isobel grasped it she would be alive today.
The Bible offers to save people from hell for their sins. Jesus died bearing those sins himself. Do not resist the remedy. Isobel did in another context, with fatal results. George swam around her powerless to save. Jesus completed salvation with the ability to save at the expense of his life (1 Peter 2 verse 24). He has promised to save all who come to Him in faith. ‘God so loved the world ‘that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life’ (John 3 Verse 16). Trust Jesus.