King Canute stunt 'went really well, but was pretty tough'

A HUGE tide of support has helped North Devon stuntman and fund raiser Merlin Cadogan raise �2,500 for the Children s Hospice South West as a result of his amazing three-day ordeal on the beach at Clovelly last week. Merlin, 35, from Northam first hit th

A HUGE tide of support has helped North Devon stuntman and fund raiser Merlin Cadogan raise �2,500 for the Children's Hospice South West as a result of his amazing three-day ordeal on the beach at Clovelly last week.

Merlin, 35, from Northam first hit the headlines through his appearances on the Britain's Got Talent television show.

Now his Clovelly ordeal has reached another audience, bringing many people to see his King Canute stunt.

Chained in a throne, Merlin spent 75 hours on the beach, with the tides covering him twice a day. He wore a wetsuit and an aqualung to enable him to breath and help protect him against the cold.

"It all went really well, but it was pretty tough," he told the Gazette.

There were two particularly dramatic episodes.

"The first tide kept me underwater for four hours and I had a leaky valve in my air tank. I could just watch the gauge going down. Luckily there were people who came diving down to see me and I was able to get the message across and support diver Colin Eastman gave me another tank," said Merlin.

"The next morning I fell asleep underwater and my support group were worried as they could see only a few bubbles coming up. The splashed on the surface with a paddle to wake me up.

"But it was great how people came to support me. They dived down to see me, wrote messages and we played noughts and crosses. I had my phone in a waterproof bag and could also respond to people with text messages and posted an underwater message on Twitter, perhaps the first in the world to do so.

For more picture and full story see Wednesday’s North Devon Gazette.