On the afternoon of October 14, 1986, two children playing on the beach near Sandspit, Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia, decided to take a ride in a small dinghy they had found. A heavy offshore wind and the outgoing tide began to carry the craft out to sea despite their frantic paddling. One boy jumped out, made his way to shore, and ran for help to Pamela Lawson while the boat with its lone occupant continued to drift seaward. Mrs. Lawson ran to the beach, waded some two hundred and thirty metres, then was forced to swim another thirty metres before she was able to catch the painter of the dinghy. Unwilling to climb into the little craft for fear of upsetting it, she held the rope in one hand and, with the other, grabbed the tail of the family dog, which had accompanied her, and told the animal to swim for shore. By the time they were near enough for Mrs. Lawson to touch bottom, the dog was exhausted. At this point she lifted the dog into the boat, then towed the dinghy and its cargo safely to shore.