Touching down in Bermuda this week, Andrew Sheldon’s thoughts drifted back 46 years to one of the most traumatic moments in his life.

It was July 1971 and Andrew, 17 at the time and visiting the island with a Canadian church group, was involved in a desperate but ultimately unsuccessful attempt to save a friend after the pair were pulled out to sea in a rip current.

Nearly half a century may have passed since Ronald Andruchow’s drowning, but for Mr Sheldon the memories of that fateful day on July 27 have remained with him ever since, and prompted him to return to Bermuda to “close the circle”.

“I need to go and find that cove, maybe even go in the water again,” Dr Sheldon said.

“A lot has happened in the last 46 years in my life, but it has always been there, and has popped up from time to time.

“I know I did everything I could to save Ron, but there’s also a guilt there too that I think we all shared. Ron was a slight, but lovely guy and his unwillingness to go in the water made him the brunt of some jokes.

“There was a moment about a year ago when I had a kind of meltdown over what had happened and it made me realise I had to come back to Bermuda and maybe close the circle.”

Reverend Canon Sheldon, 63, who hails from Toronto in Canada where he is a professor in pastoral theology, was part of a group of about 20 people that travelled to Bermuda in the summer of 1971 with the Pentecostal Church. Mr Andruchow, who came from British Columbia, was just 24 years old when he died.

“We did work with other churches and also with local children,” he said. “We were in Bermuda for two weeks and after every day we would all go down to this cove in Warwick called Stonehole Bay to swim. I remember the day of Ron’s drowning very vividly; it was the day before we were supposed to leave. The two of us and another man went down and began to swim.

“Then, suddenly, Ron and I were sucked out to sea by this huge rip; Ron was trying to grab hold of me and had wrapped his legs and arms around my body, but I managed to get him onto a nearby reef where we could stand.

“He was hysterical and it was a nightmare situation to be in, but I felt the best chance of us both making it was for me to swim back to shore and get help.

“I told Ron to stay put and set off. I barely made it back, and had hoped he would just stay where he was. But he didn’t; for some reason he did not stay on the reef and his body was later found underneath the reef.

“We had to leave the next day but I remember what made me really angry was that the church just thought they could smile and pray it away. That did not work for me.”

Dr Sheldon visited The Royal Gazette offices yesterday to go through the newspapers archives and see the front page story that we carried on July 28, 1971 relating to Mr Andruchow’s death.

The report by Al Seymour provides an account from an 11-year-old eyewitness who describes how Mr Andruchow was knocked off the reef by a large wave.

Dr Sheldon said: “It was interesting to read about the 11-year-old’s account in the newspaper. She saw that he was knocked off the reef. So, at least my memory of getting him on the reef is accurate and now I know what happened to him.

“It’s more a sense of comfort in knowing that he was actually on that reef and I was able to help that happen. And while it’s heartbreaking to hear how he came to come off the reef, it is a bit of a relief to know.

“My life went sideways for a few years after his death; I got kicked out of two schools and ended up in England with my grandmother.

“I guess, looking back, I began running from something, although I did not quite know what I was running from. I’m glad I have made it back to Bermuda after all this time. Maybe I should have come back earlier.”