Harrison, Geoffrey Edgar

June 13th, 2007 by JCB
Posted in Obituaries | No Comments »

There are many retired pilots throughout the UK who, although not widely known outside their own District, were dedicated to their work as a pilot and their passing should definitely be recorded in the annals of the UKPA (M). Retired Liverpool Pilot Geoffrey Edgar Harrison, who died on 3^rd January 2007, after several months of illness bravely borne, was one of those pilots.

He was born in Birkenhead in 1926 and in 1943, during the Second World War, at the age of seventeen; he joined the Cunard Line serving both on the ‘Aquitania’ and the ‘Queen Mary’. He sailed out of New York a total of fifty-six times, a port, which rather appropriately, had long associations with Liverpool shipping particularly through the Cunard Line.

In 1945 he joined the Liverpool Pilotage Service and after six hard working years on the pilot boats as a pilot apprentice, or ‘boathand’ as we were officially known, was licensed as a Third Class pilot in September 1951. Four years later he became a First Class pilot, and, in due course, he was appointed as an Appropriated pilot to Furness Withy Line whose ships he served for quite a number of years. Forty-five years after first going to sea he retired, along with many other Liverpool pilots, in 1988 as part of the re-organisation of UK pilotage services.

In retirement he enjoyed, amongst other things, his love of gardening spending many happy hours in their large garden. Together with his wife Sheila, who survives him, he also very much enjoyed participating in the retired pilots social functions and could be relied upon to ‘swing the lamp’ with tales of ships and pilotage along with the rest of us.

He married Sheila in 1951 and they had three sons, Stephen, Martin and Timothy. He was extremely and justifiably proud of his sons and was delighted to have seven grandchildren and three great grandchildren all of who gave him great pleasure and whom he loved dearly.

In addition to the family many of his retired colleagues and friends from his other interests outside the pilotage service filled the memorial Chapel to overflowing at his funeral. A funeral which was conducted in the inimical friendly, gentle, and delightful manner by our Honorary member of the Liverpool pilots’ Association, the Reverend Canon ‘Bob’ Evans, on the 12th January 2007. It was a fitting celebration of his life and a moving farewell to our friend and colleague.

Geoffrey was a most conscientious and skilful pilot who was extremely well respected by his colleagues who will remember him with great fondness. What better epitaph can a pilot have than to say, ‘He was a wonderful family man, a good friend, a skilful pilot and a reliable shipmate’.

Geoff Topp

Liverpool pilot (Retired)