My father’s story

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It took five years to turn the idea of publishing my father Tony Hopkins’ memoir of his wartime career as a merchant seaman into reality. After much research at home in Rye, the book was finally ready in September 2024, poignantly on almost exactly the day of his birth 100 years ago.

For much of my life I had known very little about my father’s time in the Merchant Navy beyond hearing as a child the story of how his ship had been sunk by a German U-boat. This changed in 2013 when, prompted by his attending a service at St Paul’s Cathedral to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Battle of the Atlantic, he decided to write his story. I learnt from this that he had served on seven different ships during his time as a midshipman 1942-7 with Alfred Holt & Co – the famous Blue Funnel Line. His experience, in addition to being torpedoed off the coast of West Africa on the MV Myrmidon in September 1942 and being involved in the Battle of the Atlantic, included helping to supply the Allied forces in North Africa during Operation Torch as well as in Normandy after D-Day and much more.

MV Myrmidon on a B&A Feilden postcard

He had been just 17 when he first went to sea. My father didn’t write his story with any thought of it being published, it was simply for family and friends. It wasn’t until 2019, six years later, at his memorial service that a former work colleague suggested that the account warranted a wider audience. I was asked to take the project on.

The more I looked into the subject, the more I felt that as well as its value as a family record, the memoir could also make its own contribution to the much wider story of the British Merchant Navy.

My father made passing references in the memoir to all sorts of things and I was intrigued to find out more. Having researched numerous areas, I sought to explain and illustrate some of these to give the story fuller context. The result is over 30 brief sections interspersed amongst the memoir, giving relevant detail and background. Topics covered are as varied as the operations and eventual fate of U-506 the submarine which sank my father’s ship, the question of why all British Liberty ships had names prefixed by “Sam”, and the tragic story of convoy SL 125 which left Freetown, Sierra Leone in October 1942 and suffered terrible losses.

An introduction sets the scene in a broader sense and aims to underline the enormous contribution of the British Merchant Navy at this time as well as the huge sacrifices made in ships and men. Contemporary photographs from various sources, as well as letters and photos from my father’s highly efficient filing system, all help to paint a vivid picture. A brief postscript by my father’s colleague Peter who first suggested publishing the memoir and has supported the project most generously, tells the story of my father’s fascinating career after he left the sea.

Tony Hopkins memoir on sale at Adams of Rye

After leaving service, he worked for the Worshipful Company of Shipwrights on their education and charities committee for 10 years and became chairman. During this time he supported a wide range of initiatives, typically linking young people with the sea. (These included the Outward Bound Sea School where he had been one of the very first to attend a course shortly after its founding in Aberdovey in 1942. He was therefore especially delighted to attend its 50th anniversary celebrations in London in 1992.) When my father stepped down from his charities role with the Shipwrights, he was awarded their highest Gold Medal of Honour, becoming only the fourth person to receive it.

It’s entirely appropriate that all proceeds from the book are being donated (through the Shipwrights Charitable Fund in a co-venture with the Gosling Foundation) to the Tall Ships Youth Trust (TSYT). The TSYT is the UK’s oldest and largest youth development sail training charity, supporting the personal development of young people through the crewing of ocean-going vessels. The TSYT is therefore exactly the kind of charity which my father worked to support and whose values and aims resonate so closely with his own.

The book is available from Adams of Rye priced at £16.99 with 100% of the proceeds going to the Tall Ships Youth Trust.

Image Credits: David Hopkins , B&A Feilden, .

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