The
distinguished soldier who was known throughout the yachting community
as Blondie, was commissioned into the Royal Marines in 1932 and
gained recognition as an outstanding soldier when, as a result of
his conduct while serving in Norway in 1940, he was appointed OBE,
mentioned in dispatches, and awarded the Croix de Guerre.
In 1941,
during what was recognised as the dark days of the conflict with
Nazi Germany, he presented a paper in which he put forward the idea
of taking the war to the enemy by stealth, rather than by force
(which was in somewhat sparse supply at the time). His idea was
tested in 1942, when he organised a team of canoeists in an attack
on enemy shipping using the port of Bordeaux. Despite heavy casualties,
the raid was a success and for his part in the operation he was
awarded the DSO, after being recommended for the Victoria Cross.
In January
1944 he transferred to Ceylon to train special forces for use against
the Japanese in Burma, and by the war's end had organised 173 raids
against the enemy. On his return to the UK he was responsible for
establishing the Special Boat Service, which in conjunction with
its brother organisation, the SAS, has made such an impact in every
one of the numerous conflicts that have since challenged the western
democracies.
After the
war he enhanced his reputation as a seaman with the purchase of
a yacht that had been developed for relatively sheltered conditions
(the Swedish designed 30 Square Metre class) and proceeded with
Tre Sang to take part in the events organised by
the Royal Ocean Racing Club, winning the Class Three championship
and the Ortac Cup while sailing over 2,600 miles of open ocean,
with no appreciable trouble, (apart from campaigning a vessel that
some of the crew were apt to compare with the rigours of driving
a half-tide rock to windward).
Having
explored the limits of conventional ocean racing, he then turned
to the development of single handed sailing, initiating and organising
the first single handed tran-Atlantic race; coming a creditable
second in his new boat Jester, which was in
its way a revolutionary development (of an age-old design) that
converted a coastal week-ender into a genuine salt water cruiser.
Blondie married
late in life: his bride was familiar with both the sea and service
life - the daughter of Admiral Fisher - and they found great happiness
in Scotland, farming, and raising their family.
