Tracy : This interview is being conducted with Henry Wrigley on 10th March 2019, in Cowes, Isle of Wight. The interviewer is Tracy Wellstead. What is your date of birth?
Henry : 1936.
Tracy : And where were you born?
Henry : Kingston On Soar.
Tracy : So, when did you become Harbour Master?
Henry : 1966, having had a career at sea with P&O having started the initial training at Warsash, as with many people that you’ve probably associated with already, and I left P&O as a Senior Deck Officer and I spent a year with Southampton Harbour Board which was good grounding for the Port industry, and then I came here.
Tracy : Why did you choose to become a Harbour Master?
Henry : Oh dear, that’s a very difficult one. It was almost like a progression of circumstance. It’s very difficult for a Master at sea which obviously I qualified as a Master Mariner Foreign Going and the … when you have young family, you go away for long periods of time and it wasn’t really very fair, but one has to accept these things. It was great fun, P&O was a wonderful Company who looked after us superbly well, and even after I left, over a period of five years, they came back and offered me three different appointments. That’s how good they were. However, I went into Southampton Harbour Board as a Patrol Officer which was like a stepping stone into the Port industry, and Cowes became available, the appointment, and I was most fortunate to come here. Before I came for interview, I made a study, came up and looked at everything, managed to get hold of the accounts of the Harbour Authority and all this sort of thing, and it appealed very much, and I was fortunate to be appointed.
Tracy : So did you have training, what training were you involved with?
Henry : I would say no to that but initially my year with Southampton Harbour Board was a type of training, and when the Southampton Harbour Master and the Legal Clerk at Southampton, they were extremely kind and spent two or three days with me describing how Harbour systems work and this is relevant to no doubt your studies, there are three types of Harbour Authorities. There’s the Council owned Harbour, there’s a Private owned Harbour, and then there’s a Harbour established by an Act of Parliament and that comes under the control of a Harbour Commission. Cowes is a Cowes Harbour Commission, Newport is a Council owned Harbour, Bembridge is a Private owned Harbour, so you’ve got the whole system on one Island here.
Tracy : So, how long were you actually a Harbour Master for?
Henry : I think it was 32 years, yes.
Tracy : So, can you tell us about some of the people you met during your time as a Harbour Master?
Henry : Well, there’s two ways of looking at Cowes Harbour. What a lot of people don’t realise, it is an extremely busy Commercial Harbour. Everyone associates Cowes with yachts and yachting events and everything, great. Vitally important to the economic infrastructure of the whole Island, but the commercial side, in this very small Harbour, which incidentally evolved from the Newport Harbour, ships got bigger, it was the shippers themselves, I think it was by 1897 established Cowes Harbour by an Act of Parliament. Before then, everything was controlled by the Newport Harbour or the Newport Council, and obviously it got too big. It’s brilliant for what our Victorian Forefathers established, in establishing the Act of Parliament because the wording and the clauses establishing Harbours around the United Kingdom held good until about 1996-7, which is brilliant. However. Lots of things came out of date. Many Acts had clauses in the Acts had to be repealed and new Constitutions established.
5 minutes 52 seconds
Henry : Do you want to know a little bit about the Commercial side?
Tracy : Can do yes [inaudible].
Henry : Do you know I have here and extract from a speech I had to give, I think it was when I retired, I’m not sure, and this applies to the year 1999. ‘Movement of Red Funnel Passenger Car Ferries, just under 14,000 a year. Movement of Red Jet Catamarans, 22, 882. Movement of large vessels under Pilotage, 308, movements of Commercial Vessels not Piloted, 208, number of vessels transiting Cowes to Newport and return, that’s vessels going all the way up to Newport and back, 262.’ I expect that has almost basically finished now. I would imagine. ‘Total movement of Commercial Vessels per annum, 37,496. Yacht mooring capacity in those days, about 1152, number of receipts of visiting yachts, 42500 odd,’ and so on. So, it’s a very busy thing. I always remember someone asked me about the size of Cowes Harbour and they were going on about their Harbour and statistics and all the rest of it. I was able to say quite happily, I always claimed that I had over 1200 ship owners in this Harbour but of course, every yacht no matter how small, how big, is owned by a person and that is most valuable to them. So, there we are. Oh, there’s an interesting one here I’ve just realised. ‘Lastly, two and a half million passengers transit the Port a year.’ Think about that. ‘And over 761000 tonnes of cargo was handled’ and I look upon the cargoes coming into the Island as a barometer of Island industry. i.e. the marine usage onto the Island, and basically if for instance the rate of increase in seaborne aggregates, limestone chippings from Wales, from Scotland, that indicates to me the building industry has got a spurt on or roads are receiving a awful lot of work. OK, other sorts of cargo, you’ve obviously got your petroleums and oils that come in to Kingston Wharf where there’s big storage there. A limited amount comes over on the Car Ferries incidentally, especially at night ‘cos they’re hazardous goods but the main bulk comes over by tanker etc. What else is there? Timber, from the Scandinavian countries, grain exported out into Ireland and Germany, no doubt malting barley and that sort of business. What is it, seaborne aggregates, stones. Oh, the other thing only Cowes can handle for this Island are specialist heavy lifts like big transformers for Power Stations, 90 tonnes at a time, specialist ships. I even closed the Harbour and stretched a ship right across the river so that these could be slid off the stern of the boat. Things like … people don’t realise exactly what goes on and an awful lot as well. Then of course, with Cowes, which does affect the Island, the yachting side. Now, what I have seen in my years here is rather sad but it’s just a fact life, there used to be a lot of yacht building all round Cowes. Wonderful, lovely skills, great people involved. Nowadays, rather like the car industry, yachts are built well inland in Europe, in this country almost on a conveyor belt and then they are fitted out so in other words the original yacht building of those wonderful skills does exist but not used as much as they used to. That’s rather a sad thing. However, especially as youngsters who go into it, they go and learn all this high tech equipment and all the rest of it, and then of course to the horror of the ship and yacht building industry, they’re eyes see the glitter of better employment with such technology that they move into other industries, but this is a fact of life. I always remember listening to an after-dinner talk where a visiting Team Captain of a yacht said, “Cowes is unique,” he said, “where can you be in a collision on the starting line one day and the next day that yacht having been ashore, is back on the line the next day?” There’s even one famous yacht built here, built by Lallows Yard, I won’t say the name or who the owner is but you can guess, this was taking part in Cowes Week, very famous owner indeed, and they had to leave a Security Guard on board all night when it was moored, and to their horror, first thing in the morning, they found some vandals had scratched into this beautiful varnished hull, some political slogans. You know, that yacht was on the slip within 15-20 minutes in a Boat Yard in Cowes, it was back on the line at 10 o’clock that morning, perfect. Not even the owner knew until he was told afterwards. That gives you some idea of the capabilities in the Port.
12 minutes 25 seconds
Tracy : What did you enjoy most about your job?
Henry : Well, I grew up in Vicarages where all the doors were open, and people came in and out all the time. I was at sea with P&O with large passenger ships, lots of people. I came to Cowes, it’s like a cruise liner tied up, permanently alongside with lots of people and the joy of the job is of course meeting lots of different people and helping people but of course there’s a lot more to it than that. Oh, there’s a bit more to it. I was also a Sea Pilot as well while I was here. That enabled me not only to bring ships in and go over parts of the Solent, at the same time as being Harbour Master, but meeting different Masters of different nationalities and different crews. This is all the colour and the nature of the seafaring industry.
Tracy : Were there parts of the job you didn’t enjoy?
Henry : Yes, sadly. Inevitably, I think someone described Cowes Harbour, I think it was in this document here, delightful person who wrote it, and he likened Cowes Harbour ‘like a busy M25’. Well, with so much activity in a small area, inevitably there had been the odd accident. From all accidents, one hopes to learn etc, but this is just a fact of life, and some of those accidents were pretty awful. So, something I didn’t enjoy? That was it.
Tracy : So, you’ve talked a little bit about your duties. Would you like to explain a bit more about what an actual Harbour Master does?
Henry : Yes, OK. Oh dear, where do I start? First of all, the statutory duties are set out in the Harbour Act. Control of all vessels, responsible for hazardous cargoes, all this sort of thing. But I think, as with Pilotage, this was when Trinity House asked us to take it over and indeed, 1987 Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister and Trinity House lost the licensing of Pilotage around the majority of the United Kingdom, and the Port Authorities had to become their own Pilotage Authority. Actually, it did one thing for the Isle of Wight. With Southampton and Portsmouth and Cowes, we conjoined very much with all the Pilotage planning, thinking, enquiries and all the rest of it. That really brought the Isle of Wight very much into the picture, so, there was the Pilotage one had to look after, the fishing boats etc one had to try and help them as much as you can. Difficult because we don’t have the sort of fishing industry which you associate in the fishing Ports on the east and the west coast, but nevertheless it’s important. And goodness knows what’s going to happen after the end of March with the Europe situation, but no doubt my successor will tell you all about that. We employed quite a few persons who did all the maintenance work for the buoyage and that sort of thing, very important. I was responsible by statute to ensure that the fairways were kept clear, for the movement of all ships etc which were capable of using the Port. I think the word ‘Chain Ferry’ might spring to your mind but we’ll try and keep clear of that one, but it’s all important. You see, the chains were off the seas bed. It was the responsibility of the Harbour Master to ensure that when it wasn’t working, they were back on there, clear for ships to move in and out. I had another very interesting thing. Supervising and Piloting the Medway Queen out of this Harbour. Now, when I took the Salvage Team up there from London, they were wonderful people. Good Mariners and pretty tough and I took them up there and they were a bit bewildered ‘cos I insisted the men put a very large heavy hammer called a maul, into the workboat when I took Salvage Team to see this vessel which was in a sort of a Mill Pond at Binfield where the Ryde is at this moment and the first thing I did, I took this heavy hammer and swung it and swung it on the side of the ship and it went straight through. So, I said, “OK, you’re going to salvage this ship” and the way it is going to be done it was fascinating, rather like getting the ‘Great Britain’ from the Falklands into Bristol, a large flat topped pontoon full of sections called poterdams, which you take to a site at least six metres preferably eight, depth of water, and you sink it and you float the ship over on the top, pump it out and hey presto, the ship is sitting on the flat pontoon and you tow it off to Chatham. That’s the simple bit in description. However, I turned round to these Salvage people and said, “Now, this does not move until you can guarantee it can stay afloat for 24 hours. I think I’ll change that to 48 hours” because if that sank in the fairway, it would have been our responsibility to make sure that fairway was cleared for the movement of shipping, and if it wasn’t clear, we could be sued what they call demurrage, which is the ship unable to conduct it’s business and the loss of business could be held responsible to the Harbour Authority and the poor old Harbour Master, so there’s a lot of legal aspects in the job. I could fill a book with it by the way. I think there is a book written come to think about it, and so on. An amusing one. I had a situation I only wrote it this morning before you came here. I phoned up, there’s a thing called the British Ports Association, and there they have some good top Marine Lawyers there and I said, “Now look here, I’ve got a problem. There’s a Russian ship and he refuses to sail. What powers do I have?” They said, “Leave it to us Henry”. They phoned back and they said, “We’ve found it.” They said, “Now this hasn’t been repealed, but you arm yourself with a cutlass and you go to a local Tavern and recruit seven men bold and true.” I said, “OK, then what do I do?” He said, “You go up to the ship and you challenge the Master three times to sail.” I said, “What’s the cutlass for?” He said, “You sever the lines.” I said, “What are the seven men bold and true for?” “They’re to protect you.” However, I’m glad to say that the Law has moved on since then and the Harbour Master does have the power and control of movement of vessels and some of the old Marine Law is absolutely delightful. So there you are, but oh there’s so much more. The moorings, control of movement of them, especially in Cowes, something which is vital. Vital to our High Street, vital to the Isle of Wight economic infrastructure, and that is yacht racing brings Corporate work. They bring down, you know, all sorts of people and all the rest of it. These people, we are blessed with wonderful Yacht Clubs. Each Yacht Club is different in Cowes. Each Yacht Club has something special to offer, but collectively they offer the finest race sailing I think in the United Kingdom. That would be disputed by Poole, Falmouth and everybody else, but we’ve got to stand up for ourselves. But, the most important thing is it brings with it the baggage of the Corporate entity and that brings in vast income which helps in the Town and indeed on the Isle of Wight. Oh, the other thing which we started in my time, I was trying to encourage the smaller cruising liners to come to Cowes. This is very good news for the Island. A little reluctant but got one or two and started to build up. Then in my time, we did a Harbour Development Plan because I could see there was so much needed to be done in the Harbour to catch up. Simple one. Yachts from Marinas on the Mainland come to visit the Isle of Wight and expect the similar sort of facilities here and quite rightly so. So, we needed to get a move on. I’m glad to say we did and I’m very glad to say my successor was absolutely brilliant because although we had the Development Plans made, he and the Harbour Commissioners, my bosses were the Harbour Commissioners, they made it work and I think all credit to them all for what they have achieved. They’ve made a new channel for small boats, they were able to build a breakwater, but the most important thing is, they achieved with the help of other organisations, to put a good landing stage off the Parade and this enables the cruise liners to anchor here in Cowes Roads and I was seven years on cruise passenger ships myself so I know what is required, and a lot of lovely places in the world you go to, you have to use your launches to get your passengers ashore. Lots of big places of course you just put the ship alongside, and it’s perfect here on that landing stage and I’m pleased to say, I think I read an article in the County Press this last week saying that they’ve got several coming here this year. Terrific, ‘cos that’s good for the Island but of course, getting back to the purpose of Cowes, all the things that happen in Cowes, it is the gateway to the bulk cargoes Cowes is and the River Medina, to the bulk cargoes that are so essential for Isle of Wight industries. I could fill a book on that, you won’t want to know.
24 minutes 32 seconds
Tracy : So how would you describe a typical day? What time would you have started, what time would you have finished and what would be a typical day or were they all different?
Henry : The fun of the job was, no day was the same. Absolutely, but I’ll try and do a typical day. First thing I’d do, I’d look out of my bedroom window to see how the wind was blowing, what direction and what force. Armed with this basic bit of knowledge, no doubt the forecast from the nice lady on Southern Television the night before, you do ascertain the sort of works which the men can undertake in sensible conditions, so we establish the work programs. Then, check out with the Shipping Agents, movements of commercial ships due on sailing, arrange the Pilotage if it was required. Not all ships require Pilots these days. Some ships the Masters and Chief Officers can take what is called a Pilotage Exemption Certificate, but why Cowes, the Masters like to come to Cowes, because we’re a small Port and it gave them an understanding of the control of movement of shipping in the interests of their safety of their passage in and out of the Harbour. That is one of the factors. By tradition, and indeed by Law now, when you board a ship as a Pilot, you have to have a Pilotage Plan and show to the Master and his Navigating Officer depending on what sort of ship it is, and if they approve, by tradition the Pilot gets on with it. With the Master breathing heavily on one side and his Navigating Officer breathing heavily the other side. Good. The Master knows his ship better than anybody, but you bring the ship in and you handle the ship because you know the local circumstances. You know the movement of the tide, you know the strength of the tide, you know the depth of water under the keel, all those sorts of things. Now, the poor old Master can’t be expected to know all the hundreds of Ports that he goes to. He’s got a jolly good idea because he studies the charts, of course he does. Oh, the other thing I had to do as Harbour Master. I had to examine Skippers of small little passenger ferry boats and all the rest of it, for their Pilotage Exemption Certificates. Things like that. So, back into the Office. Oh dear, the European Union had a habit of sending many directives to the Port industry. I used to be able to handle two or three but I daren’t tell you how many came our way. However, we did the best we can. In other words, there was a lot of administration work and we were very lucky. I had a couple of Secretaries; I had a Deputy Harbour Master. I gave him the difficult task, ‘cos it’s almost like a job in itself, all the legislation appertaining to the carriage of dangerous goods, things of that nature, Health and Safety things at work, with your Workshops and your men ‘cos we had quite a few employees doing the Harbour maintenance work. Back to this poor old Harbour Master. He would no doubt be working out major maintenance jobs or improvements to the Harbour which meant discussing contractual agreements with Companies etc, things of that nature. Also, it was the sort of job … when I retired my wife insisted the telephone was taken away from the bedroom because the telephone would go anytime, and if it went after say … I mean you would never phone your friends or anyone after say 9 o’clock in the evening, well eight thirty, but if the telephone went after 9 o’clock, I knew it was either the Police, Shipping Agents, Customs, even a ship in the English Channel adjusting his estimated time of arrival either at the Needles or down by the New Grounds Buoy, requiring Pilotage and all this, so in other words you were 24 hours on call. Fine, I loved it, it was just part of it and that sort of thing, so yes, it’s quite busy.
29 minutes 36 seconds
Tracy : So, did your duties change from when you first started to when you finished? Had the duties changed at all?
Henry : Yes, I think so. The things which changed legislations and things called ‘Revision Orders’ that changed the Act of Parliament. Some of those ‘Revision Orders’ did certainly change some of the aspects of the Harbour Master’s duties. Incidentally, we keep talking about the Harbour Master. In the Harbour Act there had to be a Harbour Master and a Chief Executive Officer. I was both, oh, and a Pilot. I was the boss, that’s the best one to be, so, yes, things had changed. Yachts changed. Yacht organisations change, commercial ships change in design and their ability, for the better I might add. They are not a step backward. Maybe, sometimes, but we won’t talk about this ‘cos I can’t think of them conveniently at this moment. Yes, things have changed. For goodness sake, Health and Safety have changed whatever your works are, I don’t know, but all the time these are changes. You have to get a bunch of your employees together once a month, discuss the safety measures and all the rest of it. That’s good. You know you can’t knock it, but it’s all hours and time and administration. The poor ladies in the Office, at the same time they were doing the accounts, of which I was ultimately responsible for, wages, procurement, purchase of stores, equipment for Harbour maintenance, which I suppose all this sort of thing, which I suppose we all take for granted, but somebody’s got to do it and so we just get on with it.
Tracy : We talked a little bit about working with other Agencies, like the Coast Guard. What other Agencies would you have been involved with and how that would have worked?
Henry : What we learnt from 1987, under the Pilotage Act, it did some very good things. We were all very disappointed when it happened because Trinity House are brilliant, there’s no doubt about it, but for some reason this all had to change. I won’t tell you why because that’s another story and it goes on too long. What was the question again, remind me? Oh yes, working with other Agencies. As a result of that Pilotage Act, we worked much more closely with Southampton and Portsmouth than we ever did before. Good point, because that helped with the movement of shipping and also with yachting events in the Solent. You’ve got the movement of a couple of really big tankers. I know they make a lovely fuss about the lovely ‘Queen Liners’ and all this. Actually, the biggest ships in here are the massive tankers. However, not as glamourous as the other ones, so a lot of cooperation with those Agencies for a start. Comes down to control of the movement of shipping with respect to all events which take place not just in Cowes Harbour but off Cowes Harbour in the Solent, Sea View, you name it, off Yarmouth and all this. Pilotage ceased to exit in the western Solent, that was a big change, and apparently this was due, not to the Pilots or anything, they were quite happy. The Shingles Bank which you may be familiar with tends to move around a bit. That doesn’t matter as long as these things are monitored. However, it was decided, I think insurance of shipping might have had something to do with it, so all the larger ships that come round the Island and come in from the east into the Solent waters. Fine, so Yarmouth, in a way, apart from the Wightlink Ferry backwards and forwards which is jolly important to link all the Ferries … I forgot to mention the Ferries which of course are vitally important to the Island, and also things got easier in the western Solent for the smaller sailor, jolly good. But my gosh, things have to be planned in the Solent because there are some mighty movements there which can only manoeuvre as specified within certain waters and so that is all important. That had to be organised and tied in. Yachting, the Royal Yachting Association, Royal Ocean Racing Club, yacht clubs, one has to confer with all of these people on events, so everybody knows what’s happening ‘cos there’s an awful lot that goes on in the background. There’s an organisation, actually it was started by Prince Phillip and I think just before I came here, about 1965, ’66, all the Cowes combined clubs. Actually, it does include two or three of the major clubs on the Mainland as well. Wonderful. So, they work together, all together, everyone knows what’s happening and it works. It works to this day, there’s a … called a Director, used to be a Secretary or whatever and that is a permanent round the year organisation based in Cowes, wonderful.
35 minutes 41 seconds
Tracy : So, if there were … sometimes they do like mock-ups, don’t they of major incidents, would you have been involved in that?
Henry : Absolutely, yes indeed. Also, we had to do our own.
Tracy : So could you explain …?
Henry : We had to do a pretend oil spill and we had to have equipment for it and all this sort of thing. Yeah, you’ve got to have all this. Police, very much one had to keep in touch. While I was here, they established the Marine Police Branch, marvellous, and they were so helpful, especially on events, and very sadly I’m sorry to say anywhere, crime does exist and we did find that some of the deterrents to crime were so old fashioned that we had to … another job for the Harbour Master, rewrite and prepare new Harbour Bye Laws to give you the ability to control things a bit better and that sort of thing. Oh yes, well that’s another story, a subject in itself. But already you’re seeing now the tie up of different Authorities and Agents in running a simple Harbour. I remember the first job I ever did when I came here, I realised that I had a lot to learn so I literally put my best hat and coat on and I visited every Boatyard, every marine industry and introduced myself, and as a result, we could then all work together and we all knew each other. That was one of the good sides of the job, you asked me earlier. It was wonderful meeting all these people … oh, the other thing, within two weeks of coming to Cowes, I was asked by my Harbour Authority, “Harbour Master, would you advise this Port Authority as to whether or not to allow hovercraft access in a Commercial Service?” What did I know about hovercraft? Well, it just so happened, the number one Test Pilot at British Hovercraft Corporation, when I was doing my Navy training I had to do some flying at Ford Airfield one of the principal persons at that Airfield happened to be a person whose in charge of the training of hovercraft and all that sort of thing, so, telephone call, quick reintroduction, a nice cup of coffee and I spent two days in and out of this Harbour on Hovercraft, learning all the different problems associated with it but the one thing I did realise that directly and indirectly, over two and a quarter thousand people were employed in the hovercraft industry. Now, you don’t say no to a thing like that without trying very hard to make it work. We tried hard, we made it work. It did produce quite a few problems, but then of course the hovercraft industry grew and grew, the big ones disappeared into Dover, the SRN4, the smaller ones the Military were interested, other Authorities, especially overseas with flat areas which were flooded and all the rest of it. Wonderful, to think it all started here in Cowes and things like that. Getting the picture are you?
39 minutes 43 seconds
Tracy : Yes, so you were saying there were a few problems. What would the problems have been with the hovercrafts?
Henry : Yes, (laughs), well, if you like, the close proximity of a hovercraft to smaller blocks of vessels, number one factor. To try and maintain a service for them, they wanted a guaranteed access in and out of the Harbour. Sometimes that may not have been possible ‘cos it can conflict with a Ferry movement. You’re getting the picture now are you? And so on. All this had to be sorted, tried, slowed down, hurried up and all the rest of it. They tried … the first service was Cowes to Southampton and then they tried Cowes to Portsmouth. Hovertravel developed then after that from Ryde to Southsea, successful, because of course they were clear of the small yachts and they had a free run. That made a lot of sense. Yes, there were problems, but you know, things evolve and then taken over by … you see the hovercraft in the passenger service, someone will contradict me I expect, it was taken over by the development of superb catamaran vessels. They’re building them now at East Cowes. Wonderful vessels. The Red Jets from Red Funnel. Excellent vessels and also J S Whites built some really big ones at one stage. A quick story. There was one that was built in Tasmania, there were several built in Tasmania, several were picked up and put on the decks of ships and brought into Europe. Others came on there own hull. They filled the hulls incidentally with fuel oil. I had to meet one down in the west Solent and it had come from Italy directly, you know this was one of the stopovers and it was coming here and after such a long voyage, it was going to go under J S White’s crane to be reengined. That’s fine, they were always swapping engines around on these sorts of vessels and I boarded it as a Pilot down off here, off Egypt Point, and a delightful Skipper, but the Bridge was so … well we had to talk to each other. I was on one wing of the Bridge and he was the other with a radio so we could talk to each other and coming into the Harbour, I said, “Right Captain, go slow ahead on the two engines please.” “Sorry, we’re either slow ahead 10 knots or stopped.” Well I said, “Let’s stop and see if she’ll steer.” Well of course they don’t steer stopped because the wind blows so we had to keep hitting the engine ahead and we got through the Chain Ferry area. I’d stopped all shipping of course and right in the middle there and I said, “Right Captain, come astern with your starboard engine and a touch ahead on the port” and ‘pspst’, all engines failed! So, what do you do? We had to get Pilot Launches running lines ashore and we were able to heave our way across. Problems, but it’s part of the marine industry and you’ve got to … incidentally, as a Pilot, you always had to have in your mind alternative situations should the need arise. It makes sense really.
Tracy : Yes, planning ahead.
Henry : It’s like driving into Newport town isn’t it? Traffic gridlocked you think of a way round the back street which doesn’t go down well with the local inhabitants. There we go.
Tracy : So, you were talking about accidents in the Harbour? Are there any that that sort of stick in your mind more than others?
Henry : Yes.
Tracy : Could you explain some of those?
Henry : I always prefer not to.
Tracy : You prefer not to?
Henry : But yes, one involved three days in the Coroner’s Court with a jury and it’s sad, very sad. I know it’s all over and done with and I’m pleased to say everything that Harbour had done and the Harbour Master in controlling the shipping, they could not find a fault. But all the time, if there’s any accident, you try and find an answer to the true things. It’s an awful thing to say but if there is a marine accident, it’s headlines in the newspaper. Sadly, at this very moment, in the country, on a motorway, or in a country road, there’s a car smash. Sad to say, somebody is badly injured. It doesn’t make headlines now, but the marine industry, I’m sure we can analyse it, it does cause a great deal of public interest. There was a ship not so long ago that went aground on the Bramble Bank and it was in a state of neutral equilibrium. That means if you pushed it one way, it would go over and it would stop there. I won’t go into the stability situations but it’s something we had to study for our Masters, obviously. But, things of that nature, so we have to be … oh, accidents, collisions of course, sadly, and half the time it’s something that can be put right, etc etc. Those fatal ones, that’s dreadful, you know so yes, these things do exist. I’m afraid I can think of one or two, here in Cowes Harbour. Never mind.
Tracy : So, can you tell us any of the times that your thought your life might have been in danger during your role as a Harbour Master? Was there any times like that?
Henry : They always say Harbour Masters have a very high opinion of themselves and try to walk on water (laughs). However, I think all of us have sort of … may have had a little swim occasionally, not particularly planned, however, I’ve certainly got a couple of priceless ones. Yes, I suppose in a way it was quite scary. It was a heavy lift ship that I was asked to take from Cowes Roads to sea out to the east. The Captain … the Bridge was like a spaceship, space city. I don’t watch space films but you know the sort of thing and the Captain, a delightful person and all the rest of it, and we got out to the east and the Captain said, “I’m sorry Captain Henry, I’m going to overcarry you to Le Havre.” I said, “No you’re not. I’m going to a good luncheon today” and having checked with Portsmouth and Southampton there were no ships moving, I said, “What we’ll do, we’ll bring on half ahead and do a big circle, smooth the sea out. The Pilot launch will come in and I’ll go down off and you come round to 167 degrees which will take you straight into the Fairway approach of Le Havre.” He said, “Oh, thank you very much” so off I went and climbing down the ship’s side and I thought something doesn’t look right here and I looked along the ship’s hull, she was rather a large ship, and I saw a mass of water coming down so I hung on with one hand, I waved the launch away and I hung on and the sea came right over me and my expensive Pilot’s hat was blown off. Now that hurts (laughs). About 40 guineas. However, and then … what had happened the Captain had come round too early before I’d got off and the launch came in again, they dragged me off, flattened me on the deck and tore off and brought me home. I suppose in a way we all thought it was a bit of a joke, but when you think about it, maybe it’s not so funny (laughs), but I must say I decided ‘why am I doing this for the Pilotage fee that I’d be paid at my age?’ However, such is life. I mean we’ve all had near situations, tend not to think about it though.
50 minutes
Tracy : Just makes you a bit more careful for a few days.
Henry : I mean, you know, the sea world, even inside Cowes Harbour, River Medina, is fraught with danger and this is why I take my hat off to Skippers, yacht owners, people, they learn their skills automatically but automatically they learn their safety skills as well. All the time you read the RNLI giving good advice for what you would have considered was the Office, but we all have to be reminded from time to time.
Tracy : So, you talked a little bit about the racing life at Cowes. Would you like to tell us a bit more about the racing and that at Cowes? Would you explain a bit more about how you would have been involved with that?
Henry : Well OK. Certainly, I’m involved because we need to be involved due to the movement of other vessels, be they yachts or commercial vessels at the same time that there is an event which absorbs a vast area of the Harbour, especially in the approaches, so yes, we work together there. That’s fine. A lot of it is routine where they don’t have to keep conferring but we have each year a complete list of all the events, even local ones with local yachtsmen so we know what’s going on. So, there’s no excuse not knowing and as a result one can keep and eye open. On major events, it’s sometimes necessary to put out one or two extra boats to assist with keeping the Fairways clear and all that sort of thing. That’s part of the Harbour Master’s duty. That’s fine. But you know it is so important all this racing and everything that goes with it, the Yacht Clubs are so important, what they put into the Harbour and High Street. It will take a very clever person to analyse it. I couldn’t do it, but you can be assured that everything affects everybody else to the good. So, the more we keep these events going, the more important it is to local industry, local employment and I’m talking about Hotels and Restaurants and Coffee Shops, you name it. I mean it’s very sad we see throughout the whole country sort of shops closing and all the rest of it. I met a lovely couple who used to keep a yacht here and I understood they’d taken their yacht down to the south of France, and I saw them walking down through the High Street when I was working, and I said, “How nice to see you back again.” They said, “Oh, we’re only here for a day or two.” I said, “Oh well, that’s something.” They said, “Yes, this is the best place to get all our yachting equipment and clothes.” I said, “You have an address in Kensington in London.” They said, “You can’t beat the Island for providing, especially Cowes, all this sort of equipment.” That was a nice thing to hear, so those shops are important. They’re important to the industry, they’re important to meet people’s needs and all the rest of it. I know you get a lot of things online and all the rest of it. There’s nothing like quite seeing what you’re buying, especially in the boating world.
Tracy : You’ve talked a little about some of the people that you’ve met . Have you met famous people in you job? I’m sure you have.
Henry : Yes, I expect so.
Tracy : So what famous people have you met?
Henry : Do you know I was told a lovely story. You can go into a local Pub and knock the beer over the Peer of the Realm and knock the Peer over as a local boatman. Nobody’s impressed and this is the nice thing about Cowes. Yes of course there’s some very interesting, splendid people. I can remember at some Reception, it was a person with a beard, and he was saying, “Oh, and who are you?” “Oh, my names Tracy.” He said, “Oh, that’s jolly good” and when he came to me I said, “Oh, I hope you don’t mind but who are you?”. He said, “On my name’s Richard Branson.” I didn’t know (laughs) and he laughed, and we all laughed , but this is the nice thing about the place. Yes, there’s all sorts of people. Put it this way, when we had the Royal Yacht here, even when the Royal Yacht wasn’t here, yes we met members of the Royal Family in a lovey relaxed way of life. They did wonderful encouragement of events and all the rest of it. ‘Britannia’ did wonderful work around the World, however, that’s another story. Well, when I came here, I suppose one of the most famous people was a person called Sir Max Aitken, who was the son of Lord Beaverbrook who in wartime was the Minister of Arm and all the rest of it, Canadian, and of course he ended up … well he was , he owned the Beaverbrook Trust thing, the Express Organisation, wasn’t just newspapers of course, and what was so important, there were in those days some special yacht races called the Admirals Cup and they used to change the rules so these well-known owners, they would get new yachts built to meet up … this produces a lot of work for a lot of people. It was wonderful what these people did by pouring lots of capital into the industry which produced a lot of work etc. And of course, these people loved to come here. I can remember having to go to a meeting in London and Max Aitken and several other rather famous people and Sir Max says, “Henry, you look worried.” I said, “Yes, you’re not the same here as you are in Cowes.” He said, “Why’s that?” I said, “When I see you in your jeans covered in a bit of oil and the dust and the odd tear or two, you’re different people to what you are here in your pin stripe suit.” So, they all chuckled away at that, but in a way this is what Cowes and the Island does. It gets people to relax and enjoy themselves no matter who they are and yes, inevitably you do meet a lot of people and that’s the fun of it. I think you asked me that question earlier, but the fun of people from all walks of life. Lovely. It’s like that Vicarage that I was brought up in.
57 minutes 15 seconds
Tracy : So is there anything more you’d like to tell us about you job before we move on to what you are doing now?
Henry : Oh dear, do you know I think I said to you before you switched that machine on. As soon as you go, I’ll think of all sorts of things and I can’t really … I mean there was so much, and do you know what? It’s not actually … a lot of it of course is written down by statute, but in doing the job, you had to do all sorts of other things. You had to have an appreciation of other people’s work and what they were up to. Not just on the water but on the shore and what I think is so marvellous and it worries me because I’m getting a bit out of date now thankfully. No. not thankfully ‘cos I loved being involved. It’s the small areas of marine industry. A two-man team in a shed doing moulding for cabin tops of small yachts. All these little marine engineering firms, the little electrical marine business, all one man, two-man businesses. They are absolutely vital to the whole industry as a whole and what is worrying here is that a lot of these people are finding it more and more difficult to keep their business going. I could expand on that, but I won’t because it would go into somebody’s else’s field. Oh, the other thing a Harbour Master had to do, to advise his Harbour Commissioners. If applications came in, if you wanted to build a jetty at the bottom of your garden into the River Medina, you’d have to make an application to us and then we would have to see how this would affect others and all the rest of it, and say, “Good idea, not such a good idea” and so on. That was interesting and some of it was pretty difficult and I wouldn’t be afraid to seek professional advice on some of the problems that could arise.
Tracy : So, just out of curiosity, the houseboats that … there are a few around in various Harbours and things, would the Harbour Master be responsible for them as well?
Henry : Oh dear, I knew you’d ask something that I wouldn’t want to answer (laughs) but houseboats are difficult. I’ll tell you why and you’ve seen some of this on the Island. Houseboats, great fun. I belonged to a Syndicate with a canal boat in France for a while. A whole bunch of us in Cowes here, wonderful fun, lovely. But, houseboats tend to be not a river going or a sea going vessel. They don’t necessarily have engines. They need to be connected up, I’m sorry it’s a bit grubby this, to decent drainage systems and all the rest of it and then sometimes, and it’s happened in the River Medina … I must say I got rid of them, there were one or two, and then they’ll be abandoned and when they are abandoned, what is it, ‘Old men and boats rot in Harbours’. Well, in a way that’s exactly what happens. A boat has to be maintained all the time, and if they’re not, they become a wreck. If they become a wreck, they become a problem and they abandon it, you can’t find the owners and it’s up to the poor old Harbour Authority … I keep talking about the Harbour Master. I must correct this. The Harbour Master works for a Harbour Authority but they ask him to get on with things and this has happened on this Island in other places which you probably have discovered. It’s a shame because I love boats and when I look on the Thames and some of the lovely houseboats, pristine, they’re wonderful. But unfortunately, when you are more of a sea going Port, it’s not quite the same. I mean poor old Newport have had problems in the past. I can see a couple of wrecks on the mud in the River Medina of when I knew them as houseboats. So, there’s your answer. If the houseboats can prove that they can be manoeuvred when required in emergencies or for other purposes, OK and you can look upon it in a different way, but houseboats do need facilities connected to the shore, for people to live sensibly on them. I am very cautious with the word houseboat. Some are lovely, absolutely marvellous, there you are.
1 hour 2 minutes 34 seconds
Tracy : So, what have you done with your life since you’ve retired?
Henry : Oh dear me. I think I wrote a speech here, let me see [searches through papers]. Is this the one? ‘Now retirement. Time for fly fishing, yachting, grandchildren, gardening, friends, travel, many committees and more attention to Sheila’s shopping. My family have always been wonderful for the disruption in our normal lives, but it was never dull, and they helped me enormously. I would not have missed it for anything else and thank you for putting up with me for so long.’ Does that answer your question or not?
Tracy : Well, it does. But what other committees and things do you …?
Henry : Oh well, obviously club committees and other committees with the youth organisations and this sort of thing, but I am rather ancient now you know? Well, you’ve got my date of birth so you can work it out for yourself and still no pills and potions so it’s living a pure and perfect life you know. There’re not many of us around (laughs). Oh, and the reason I’m still here, they asked me to be High Sheriff when I retired and I said, “No, no, no, can’t possibly do things like that” and I said no twice and eventually the Lord Lieutenant said, “You do want your Sovereign [inaudible], so we did it and it was fascinating. I thought I knew everybody on this Island. You probably think you do. I came across people who do marvellous things on the side on a voluntary basis, work basis, everything. It’s amazing what goes on. Even in the Maritime World, which is the basis of your research at the moment, and so I learnt a lot in that year and I like to hope we achieved something for the benefit of other people as well but that made us stop and at the end of it I said, “Right, come on, cottage in the Cotswolds with a trout stream at the bottom of the garden” and my wife very sensibly said, “But we have our family here, all our lovely friends here” and all the rest of it, and so I went to my successor and to the Chairman of Harbour Commission, “do you mind if I stay in Cowes? I promise to keep well clear of your shadow.” They said, “Henry, don’t you dare move.” There you are, that’s what friends are for.
1 hour 5 minutes 24 seconds
Tracy : So, what year did you have that role? What year were you High Sheriff?
Henry : 2000-2001. I had a General Election to receive the … before you came I just had a … ‘Functions of the Office’. Shall I read it out or not?
Tracy : Umm.
Henry : ‘The High Sheriff is responsible in the counties of England and Wales for duties conferred by the Crown through Warrant from the Privy Council including attendance of Royal Visits to the county. The well-being and protection of Her Majesty’s High Court Judges when on circuit in the county and attending them in Court during the long legal terms. The execution of High Court Writs and Orders which are mainly achieved through their Sheriff whose annual appointment is by the High Sheriff alone. Acting as Returning Officer for the Parliamentary Elections in the county constituencies. (High Sheriffs call them Bailiwicks). Responsibility for the proclamation of the session of the new Sovereign, the maintenance of the loyalty of subjects to the Crown, the Warrants of Appointment as High Sheriff remains valid even on the death of the Sovereign. In practice, some of these responsibilities are delegated to the professional services. For example, for the protection of the Judges, and the maintenance of Law and Order are in the hands of the Chief Constable.’ No one pays you.
Tracy : But you still enjoyed it.
Henry : I was caught out in a most awful situation. You always after dinner and this sort of thing, and I thought I’m going to enjoy this, I haven’t got to say anything, so off we went and I think it was an International Bankers do or something like that and the Chairman got up, “Welcome to everyone” and all the rest of it and sat down and I thought that was a bit quick. And then the visiting one from overseas got up and he spoke for about 32 seconds. I thought, that’s not very good is it? And they said, “And now, the High Sheriff will address the company.” I said, “I beg your pardon, nobody told me.” And sitting each side of me was the wife of the two principals … I said, “What the devil am I going to tell them?” They said, “Tell us about your High Sheriff uniform and how you get into it” so I had to tell them about the difficulties of getting into a High Sheriff’s uniform. Do you know what it is? It’s late 17th century, it hasn’t changed. Silver buckle shoes, black tights, britches, nice silver buttons, waistcoat, there’s your bow on here, lovely frills and all the rest of it, but no one tells you how to get into tights (laughs). Now, if you go into Marks and Spencer’s and you say, “I’d like a pair of thick tights” they say, “Yes sir, what madam’s size?” I said, “No, for me” (laughs). And they said, “Well how thick?” and I said, “Thick as anything to just cover up hairy legs, what do you think?” Now this is very embarrassing and then how do you get in them? Sheila’s heard this hundreds of times, how do you get in them? Well, it’s not easy and the first time I got in them I stood up and I found the feet were pointing the wrong way, so you see life is full of difficulties. You’ve had enough of me now.
Interview ends
1 hour 9 minutes 14 seconds
Transcribed May 2019
Chris Litton