Photographer's chilling final moments after death of beloved sister who made eerie request
Jacob Cockle was a talented wildlife photographer who was destined for greatness - but he tragically died in a horrifying incident
Jacob Cockle, a talented wildlife photographer with a bright future ahead, tragically lost his life while wearing a horse mask and swimming near a deadly whirlpool.
His haunting final moments were partially predicted by his late sister.
"Jacob loved the water," his mom, Carolyn, said: "Once he was in you could never get him out."
Jacob was the heart and soul of every party, and "made you believe magic existed," his friend Barnaby Courtney added.
"He had these crazy eyes that looked like the sea, his hair was always unkempt, he always looked happy," Barnaby told the BBC.
Jacob shared an unusual connection with his "old-soul" sister, Grace, before her untimely passing.
Sadly, her death caused him to become even more reckless.
Jacob's form tutor at Cape Cornwall Comprehensive said, "what happened to her, well, it was heartbreaking. What more does that poor family have to go through?"
The brother and sister created a private language when they were young, and Grace frequently spoke for him.
Grace's best friend Dabriella Quayle said: "She was the sort of girl your parents talked about, 'why can't you be more like Grace'?".
"She was older than her years, she had the sense of someone in their 30s or 40s."
Dabriella's twin sister added: "Looking back now it was eerie."
Jacob was known for skipping school to surf, while his sister Grace was a star student. Tragically, Grace was diagnosed with a brain tumor in September 2001 and passed away at the tender age of 20 in December 2002.
Grace had an unusual last wish - she wanted her ashes to be held until another family member passed away. Dabriella said, "I thought it was a very strange request for her."
Eleven years later, her ashes were finally set to be scattered after the death of her grandmother. However, just a day before this planned ceremony, Jacob also tragically passed away.
Jacob's life took a turn after his sister's passing. His girlfriend Rachel shared, "He thought, as a young beautiful woman, she did not do anything in life to deserve that, there was no karma to it, it was just cruel."
This inspired him to "throw everything to the wind and give it a try,".
At just 17, he made a vow to become a world-renowned photographer.
His methods were extreme - he mastered the art of holding his breath to dive deep into the ocean. He would surf over rocks and even jump off bridges.
He once received a police caution for jumping from a railway bridge in Hayle.
By his early 20s, he had won awards from National Geographic and The Sunday Times. Just weeks before his untimely death, he won a £28,000 expedition to Antarctica, which was the adventure of a lifetime.
Jacob's photograph of his friend Seb surfing near a supertanker in Sumatra won first place in a travel photography competition run by The Guardian. The judges praised the image, stating it would "stand the test of time".
His last endeavor was to document the whirlpool at Hayle harbor - close to where he lived.
On May 28, 2013, the whirlpool returned.
Artist David Raine, who worked alongside Jacob, witnessed him racing toward his residence shouting that the whirlpool had come back.
Disregarding the cautions, he would venture out to the natural phenomenon, even wearing a horse mask and swimming around it in a bid to generate more YouTube views.
When David reached the beach, Jacob had already entered the water.
From the quay, David recorded Jacob as he spun around the perimeter of the whirlpool.
"It looks a powerful one," David called out to Jacob.
"Ah yeah, earlier on it was really scary," Jacob replied.
He continued: "It's fine now because it's so deep but when I first got in I was a bit scared to be honest. It's safe as now, though."
Without warning, the whirlpool began dragging him down, causing him to cry out, "woah woah that was pretty scary."
He requested David hand him a GoPro camera for one last underwater shot.
But devastatingly, Jacob never came back up.
In a frenzy, David raced to the opposite end of the whirlpool where it emptied into a pool.
Sprinting back and forth, he ultimately discovered Jacob floating facedown in the pool - motionless.
A year following Jacob's heartbreaking death, the sluicing system in Hayle harbor was modified, causing the whirlpool to vanish forever. "I do not think he was scared of death," Rachel mused.
"If he was going to go any way it was going to be in some extreme blaze of glory like that. Like he was vortexed into the next realm."
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