It was a tale of anguished terror that turned to unbridled joy. After more than two days of family heartache - when relatives were told to expect the worst - there was still no sign of Matthew Harvey who went missing on Saturday off Guernsey.
Then he was spotted in the seas off the Channel island on Monday by the crew of a passing yacht and rescued. He had, he told his family, police and coastguards, been floating in the water in a semi conscious state for at least 56 hours after being hit by a passing boat.
That anyone could survive in British waters for so long, even in the relatively mild end-of-summer temperatures, staggered rescuers. However, if they had any nagging doubts about the plausibility of the story, they were not picked up by the scrum of media, including (admittedly) the Guardian and US TV networks, which covered the heart-warming account.
That intense media interest proved to be Mr Harvey's downfall. A member of the public recognised his photos and called police to say the diver, rather than floating in the Channel, was on the British mainland at the time.
Police confirmed last night that the story was a somewhat foolhardy hoax. It now appears that although Mr Harvey did go diving he returned to shore in time to catch the ferry to Poole and spent a couple of nights on the mainland in an as yet undisclosed location. Police say the details are not yet fully explained and that they are looking into whether they can charge him with any offence.
The hoax comes soon after the rescue of three castaway Mexican fisherman who claim they spent nine months floating in the Pacific after running out of fuel. Some believe their story to be slightly fishy and have questioned their choice of boat. It apparently had two huge outboard engines - each one developing 250 horsepower - which are not particularly common among fishing fleets.
By coincidence, it emerged today that another 'hoaxer', James Frey, who wrote a memoir which was fake at least in part, is to compensate those who bought the book believing it to be a true account.
The biggest hoax of recent years was arguably the Mirror's publication of what turned out to be fake photos showing British troops mistreating Iraqi prisoners. The decision to publish cost editor Piers Morgan his job.
Some might argue that as journalists increasingly work from their desks, the industry is becoming more susceptible to hoaxers, particularly as more emphasis is put on speed, by the demands for rolling news. Reporters, rather than snooping around "in the field" are more dependent on others to tell them what happened, be that the police or "citizen journalists" who happened to be there.
That said, some of the best hoaxers were around long before the internet.
For more than a quarter of a century, Michael "Rocky" Ryan, was famous for deceiving Fleet Street's finest minds into printing his outlandish stories which included tales of orgies on Everest and devil worship among British explorers in the Amazon. Whether the British media has been more factually correct since his death two years ago, however, is moot question.
