Rollinson Alec
Alec was the only child of a Master Shipwright and Boatbuilder, who had at one time been a Millom Pilot. He was taken afloat, at six weeks old, in the family yacht and began a lifetime’s passion for things nautical, and the Irish Sea in particular.
Because of his father’s work abroad for the Crown Agencies, he has an unusual upbringing, living in Barrow with his grandparents and spending a great deal of time on all sorts of boats.
When at 16, he joined the Liverpool Pilot Service, he came with a level of seamanship that took most of us years to acquire.
This solid young man had the look of an “Old Sea Dog” years before his time; his colleagues affectionately christened him the “Duke of Barrow”.
In the final months of his apprenticeship he married Jean and they had two children. Sadly, whilst the children were still young, Jean died and Alec struggled to keep the family going and to do his share of piloting. They were hard years and he never complained.
All his working life he was a “bag carrying” pilot and love every minute of his piloting life, but his passion was for yachts and racing them and to this end he became one of the best known yachtsmen in the North West.
He had extraordinary talents inherited from his father and owned three of the most perfectly presented yachts imaginable. His Dee 27 “Pellegrina”, which he owned for 25 years, used to appear in an advertisement for yacht varnish and the list of trophies that he won over the years was immense. He was one of the original RYA examiners in 1974 and any ticket that he granted was truly earned.
A former commodore of Tranmere Sailing Club and a member of several other clubs, Alec had, by now, remarried and Nikki, his mate, became a yachtswoman in her own right.
Alec retired in 1997 and enjoyed, to the full, the cycle of summer cruising to the Western Isles or France, and the winter maintenance of his beloved “Pellegrina”.
His health began to let him down a couple of years ago and the devotion of his family kept him sailing as long as possible.
He was most certainly a “one off”, honest, strong and of great integrity – a true
friend, - sadly missed.
DAVID HOPKINSON retired Liverpool Pilot
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