February 2014 | nautilusint.org | telegraph | 31
MEMBERS AT WORK
Captain Ieuan Lampshire-Jones is one of Nautilus International’s longest-serving members. After receiving the Union’s celebratory gold lapel pin from the general secretary, he spoke to SARAH ROBINSON about wartime, peacetime, sea and shore... Captain Ieuan Lampshire-Jones in command of the Eastern Ume, in March 1964
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How many people can say that they’ve been in a relationship for 70 years? Amazingly, that’s how long Captain Ieuan LampshireJones has maintained his connection with Nautilus; he joined the Union in 1944, and has faithfully paid his annual subscription ever since. Of course, he wasn’t sending his shillings to a body called Nautilus International 70 years ago. Ieuan Lampshire-Jones originally signed up to the NEOU (Navigators and Engineer Officers’ Union), and over the years he saw his Union morph into the MNAOA, NUMAST and Nautilus UK, before taking on the identity we know today. Meanwhile, there were substantial changes in his own life and work — making it all the more unusual that he remained with the same professional organisation. Capt Lampshire-Jones’s reasons for joining the Union in 1944 would still sound familiar to the seafarer of 2014: legal representation in times of trouble, and pension support (the NEOU had been instrumental in setting up the cross-industry pension scheme MNOPF in 1938). ‘I was a third officer then,’ he recalls, ‘and those things impressed me and the others on my ship. We joined when a Union rep came onboard during a port visit in the UK.’ At that point, young Ieuan had already been at sea for five years, having joined his first vessel, the coaster Lottie R, as an ordinary seaman in 1939. It was quite a moment to be embarking on a nautical career, as Britain’s merchant vessels soon found themselves embroiled in the highly risky supply missions of the Second World War. But Ieuan was not deterred; his father and grandfather had both been
A familiar name in the Telegraph... Page 16, April 2009
Captain Lampshire-Jones’s first vessel, the coaster Lottie R
to sea, and his uncle was serving as 2nd mate on the Lottie R. Besides, he says: ‘In our village on the Welsh coast, you only had three choices — farmer, ministry or seafarer.’ It was common, he adds, for certain shipowners to rely on their Welsh shipmasters to recruit new crewmembers from their home towns, so vacancies were often filled through word of mouth. Ieuan’s wartime service with the British Merchant Navy took him all around the world; he crossed the Atlantic several times, took supplies to North Africa and Burma, and was involved in the D-Day operation. Even the small Lottie R had a vital role to play in the war effort. Capt Lampshire-Jones vividly remembers a mission to Iceland carrying petrol cans for the Royal Marines, in which the coaster had to hide among the fjords during a heated battle which sank HMS Hood off Greenland. But what the Lottie R couldn’t supply was the range of experience needed by an aspiring ship’s officer. Buoyed by the support of his shipmates, Ieuan knuckled down to his nautical studies at South Shields Marine & Technical College as the war went on, and transferred to larger cargoships including the Dalmore to get his required deepsea experience.
M the gold lapel pin which honours long-standing R Nautilus members. If you have been a member
Capt Lampshire-Jones is pictured above wearing
of Nautilus and its predecessor unions for over 40 years, you too could be in line for a gold lapel pin. Or perhaps you have a relative who is a long-standing Union member and would appreciate this token of recognition. To ensure a name is on the list for consideration, please email 40yearpins@nautilusint. org or phone the Wallasey office on +44 (0)151 639 8454 and ask for Karen Jones.
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By 1944, Ieuan had his certificate of competency as a Second Mate (Foreign Going), he had become an NEOU member, and as hostilities drew to a close in 1945 he looked forward eagerly to a peacetime career at sea. ‘It was all much easier after the war,’ he recalls. ‘Nobody was trying to bomb you any more, and you could even bring your wife onboard for some trips.’ As he rose through the ranks, Ieuan and his wife Philomena had three daughters and a son, Ian, who eventually followed his father to sea. For his higher tickets, Ieuan studied for a time at the University of Wales Department of Marine Studies in Cardiff, and gained his master’s certificate through the City of London Polytechnical School of Navigation. ‘That was a proud day for my mother,’ he smiles. ‘I let her know by sending her a telegram saying “TOPSAIL”.’ Captain Lampshire-Jones’s first command was the World Wide Shipping cargoship Eastern Sakura, in ‘around 1960’. Over the next decade, he continued serving as a shipmaster, but he and Philomena found themselves increasingly drawn to the beautiful port of Vancouver in western Canada. So when Ieuan found out through acquaintances that a large surveying company, SGS Supervision Services, was look-
ing to set up a branch in the city, he decided to come ashore. In 1969, he helped to establish the firm’s new west coast operation, and his work as a surveyor in the 1970s and 1980s was to cover a territory including Alaska, Yukon, the Canadian High Arctic, British Columbia, Washington state, Oregon, northern California and even Greenland. ‘I enjoyed the travel, and also the sociability of the job,’ he says. ‘I liked going onboard and chatting to the masters.’ Although he officially retired in 1988, the captain continued with consultancy work in the industry, and has given presentations to inspire schoolchildren to take up maritime and mining careers. He still lives in Vancouver, and of course he is still a Nautilus member.
What made him maintain his membership for all this time? The Telegraph was a big part of it, he explains. He finds it an invaluable way of keeping up to date with the industry, and not least with developments in the MNOPF pension scheme. He enjoys the lighter side of the paper too, and has twice contributed to the letters pages — ‘I’m famous for telling funny stories,’ he jokes. Capt Lampshire-Jones is also a man who cares about being part of social and professional communities. As well as Nautilus International, he is a member of a range of organisations including the Company of Master Mariners of Canada, the Association of Marine Surveyors of British Columbia, the Canadian Maritime Law Association, the Welsh Society of Vancouver and his local Welsh church. Whatever his reasons for staying with Nautilus for so long, the Union is very glad to have him onboard, says general secretary Mark Dickinson, who recently sent the captain the Nautilus gold pin which honours long-standing members. ‘We couldn’t wish for a finer and more loyal member than Captain LampshireJones,’ he remarks, ‘and we hope he stays with Nautilus for many more years to come.’
Giving you a voice on your future Worried about your retirement? Join us! The Nautilus Pensions Association is a pressure group and support organisation that: z provides a new focal point for seafarer pensioners — increasing their influence within, and knowledge of, the Merchant Navy Officers’ Pension Fund and other schemes within the industry z serves as a channel for professional advice on all kinds of pensions, as well as offering specific information on legal and government developments on pensions, and supporting the Union in lobbying the government as required z provides a ‘one-stop shop’ for advice on other organisations providing support and assistance to pensioners z offers a range of specialised services and benefits tailored to meet the needs of retired members z operates as a democratic organisation, being a Nautilus Council body — with the secretary and secretariat provided by the Union 1 & 2 The Shrubberies, George Lane, South Woodford, London E18 1BD t +44 (0)20 8989 6677 f +44 (0)20 8530 1015 npa@nautilusint.org www.nautilusint.org
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