The day Frank hitched a ride with friendly dolphin
Published: May 24, 2006
MARRA is not the first adventure-loving dolphin to attract a large crowd of excited onlookers to the west Cumbrian coast, it has emerged.
Carlisle pensioner Jane Roy has told how, more than 40 years ago, her late nephew Frank Holden, then a schoolboy living in Carlisle, spent a day in Silloth’s west dock swimming with a dolphin.
Her memories were stirred by the news that Marra had returned to Cumbria.
The young bottlenose dolphin caused a sensation when he spent six weeks in Maryport marina. He was saved following a rescue operation.
Incredibly, the animal returned last week but had to be rescued for a second time after becoming stranded on the beach near Silloth.
Mrs Roy, 86, spoke of the day Marra’s predecessor appeared in Silloth’s west dock.
“I can remember it as if it was yesterday,” said Mrs Roy, a widow, of Cumberland Court, Carlisle.
“I’d gone out for the day with my two children and my sister and we were on our way to Silloth.
“My sister’s son Frank was there too. He was only 11 or 12 at the time.
“Suddenly, he stripped down to his underpants and dived into the dock. He’d seen a dolphin in the water. He swam around with it for hours.
“He then came up the steps and sat with his mother to have something to eat, but then the dolphin put its head above the water and started making noises as if it wanted him to go back into the water.
“So he dived back in again.
“At first we couldn’t see him in the water but then he came to the surface – sitting on the dolphin’s back. Three times that happened.”
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