John was born in 1926 in West Ham, London. Since his father was at sea with Ellerman & Bucknall (on the Durban to India and Burma voyages), his family were seeing very little of him. Consequently, they solved this problem by moving from England to Durban when John was 8yrs old!

At the age of fourteen John attended the General Botha training ship, Simonstown, between 1940 and 1942 (at that time the usual period of attendance was 2 – 2 1/2yrs). Whilst on the ship he remembers seeing the QUEEN MARY and the old QUEEN ELIZABETH 1 bunkering in Simon’s Bay, en route from the UK to Suez, with thousands of troops on board bound for Egypt. Twenty years later he was piloting both of these ships in the Solent Waters!

He went to sea as a cadet, his first ship being THE CITY OF LINCOLN (Apr 1943 -May 1944 ) an Ellerman & Bucknall’s new build, trading on the South African coast, then back to the UK.

In May 1944 he joined FORT TADOUSAC as a cadet and remained on board until March 1945 (not much leave!) She traded between Liverpool, South Africa and the USA. Then a couple of months on the EMPIRE PENDENNIS, before studying for his Second Mate’s Certificate (no 54146 ). In Sept 1945 John joined the CITY OF LINCOLN again and served on her as fourth officer for 3 months. He was NOT on board when she ran aground at Quoin Point, C.P and was a total constructive loss!

After a whole 10 days leave (!), he joined the DURBAN CASTLE in Dec 1945 at Southampton, as fourth officer, hoping he would get to see more of his parents in South Africa (who were by then managing the Rotunda Hotel in Camps Bay). However, when John arrived at Southampton, he was immediately sent to the upper deck to conduct sailing day boat drill, only to be confronted by over 800 war brides bound for Australia and New Zealand! His trip to see his parents back in S.A was scuppered! John recalls that sadly there were several women who were not met on arrival. They were given three options: to return with the ship back to England, to stay there permanently as a citizen of Australia (or New Zealand) or to be given 3 months stay (at Government expense) to search for the husbands who failed to turn up to meet them.

In February 1946 John joined SAMTRENT at Bombay (mainly trading in the Far East) and remained on board until Jan 1947 when he disembarked at Avonmouth. After some (well earned!) leave he joined WARWICK CASTLE (a new build) at Belfast, signing on as fourth officer and after a round trip, signed off at Southampton. In July 1947 he joined SAMSTEEL, a lease lend ship (Liberty ship, built in the US) as third officer. Seven weeks later he left at Mobile, having returned her to the US Government. This meant a four day journey from south to north of the USA, from Mobile to Halifax, Canada by train, returning to the UK via a passage on passenger ship AQUITANIA as a DBS (Distressed British Seaman).

Once back in the UK, John joined ATHLONE CASTLE at Southampton in Dec 1947 as fourth officer. He then studied for his First Mate’s Ticket (chief officer’s cert), qualifying in Aug 1948.

In Nov 1948 John joined RUSTENBURG CASTLE at Glasgow serving as second officer thereafter, until Apr 1950. She was a fruit ship trading between South africa and the UK, and sometimes to the USA.

June 1950 saw him join EDINBURGH CASTLE and then later that year,after a month’s leave, he joined CAPE TOWN CASTLE as fourth officer, disembarking in Feb 1951. After 11 days leave, second officer Henderson joined RIEBEECK CASTLE at Victoria Docks, London and, after 5 months,disembarked at Rotterdam in July 1951. Another short spell of leave and John joined the RUSTENBURG CASTLE at Hull as second officer, for coastal voyage experience whist studying and taking written and oral exams for his Master’s Certificate.

His next trip was on ARUNDEL CASTLE, sailing from Southampton in Dec 1951. After one round trip to South Africa he left the vessel at Southamton in Jan 1952 and travelled to Belfast to join a brand new ship, KENYA CASTLE, as she came out of Harland and Wolff Shipyard on Feb 15th 1952 John recalls that there was a fair amount of work involved in getting the charts in order and checking instruments such as the gyro compass. Thereafter, he served as second officer for over a year,before leaving her in Mar 1953.

After a whole 8 days leave, he then joined ROXBURGH CASTLE at Victoria Docks, London as chief officer (promotion!) and remained on board until Sept 1953. Within this period he was promoted to Master after the previous Captain crushed his hand and had to be hospitalised ashore in Trinidad.This led to John’s first command.

In Nov 1953 he joined WINCHESTER CASTLE as second officer for one round trip. Between Jan 1954 and Apr 1955 he was second officer on several more of the Union Castle ships: STIRLING CASTLE, PRETORIA CASTLE, and ATHLONE CASTLE.

In Nov 1955 John joined EDINBURGH CASTLE as first officer. This was a memorable voyage since it was here that he met his wife to be, Joan. Joan Lister was serving on board as Children’s Hostess, a new appointment for the company. They first set eyes on each other during the crew life boat drill, which John was conducting. He stopped in front of Joan and tugged firmly at her lifejacket, saying “Too loose – tighten that up!” Not the most subtle chat up line – and not very well received! However, they did become ‘an item’ during the voyage, and it wasn’t long before news of their romance reached the Captain. John was called to the bridge whereupon he was asked as to whether a “close friendship” had developed between himself and Miss Lister. Consequently, due to company policy, he found himself leaving Union Castle’s most prestigious ship (Commodore ship) and being given ‘promotion’ as chief officer on board KENILWORTH CASTLE, whilst Joan remained in the lap of luxury aboard EDINBURGH CASTLE!

Both John and Joan signed off their respective ships in July 1956, were married at Lytham St Annes, Lancashire in Sept 1956, and have recently celebrated their 56th Wedding Anniversary. Whoever said that shipboard romances never last!

Having been on the waiting list for a vacancy in the UK Pilot service, with perfect timing, he was offered a place with the Isle of Wight and Southampton Trinity House Pilotage Service. He and Joan moved to Bembridge on the Isle of Wight and John remained in pilotage until he retired in 1989.

During this time 22 years were as a Choice pilot for Cunard, piloting all the ‘Queens,’ starting with the old QUEEN MARY. On one occasion having to be flown out by helicopter to the QE2 (en route to Southampton) during very bad weather conditions in the English Channel.

The liner had met a south-westerly gale in the North Atlantic, almost all the way across from New York and was delayed by four hours. In order to reach Southampton in time to catch the tides, and minimise the delay, a short cut was taken through the Western Solent via The Needles(as opposed to round the Isle of Wight), a narrower, shallower channel and a route that the liner had only ever used once before. When she arrived off The Needles the wind and sea conditions were such that it would have been impossible for the pilot launch to put to sea, let alone for the pilot to make a sea transfer on to the ship. The Cunard company requested help from the search and rescue helicopter service at HMS DAEDALUS, Lee-onSolent, since, with a steep sea due to the ebbing tide and a south-westerly gale of 30 knots, any other means of boarding the ship would have been impossible. John was airlifted by the helicopter from the beach at Bembridge, Isle of Wight, flown out to the liner and winched down onto the after deck. An experience that he found very interesting!

After retiring in 1989, John filled his well-earned leisure time with several pastimes: he pursued a PPL after taking up flying lessons in a Cessna and devoted more time toward his existing interest in collecting cigarette cards, stamps and postcards that featured merchant ships only and became a prominent breeder of the Australian Gouldian finch.

John returned to South Africa with Joan in the late eighties for a holiday (and trip down memory lane!), visiting Durban and Cape Town. Whilst there they visited the shore-based General Botha College, which replaced the ship that was sadly taken out to sea and sunk after being used by the S.A Navy as target practise.

He remembers several of the instructors from his time on GENERAL BOTHA: Mr.’Chick’ Chapman, P.T.I (given this nickname because of the two Bantams tatooed on his feet, having been Bantam weight champion boxer of the Royal Navy), Mr. Flack, Seamanship /Signals and Captain-Superintendent J. Pennington.

John enjoyed his life at sea and his shore-based pilotage career, and felt that he was lucky enough to have the best of both worlds.