Obituary: Derek Ivor Parsons

June 13th, 2011 by JCB
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Captain Derek  Ivor Parsons 1923 –2010

Derek Parsons was born on 27^th April, 1923 and at the outbreak of war, was accepted as a cadet by the Department of Navigation,  University College, Southampton where he had to endure the nightly air-raids on Southampton Docks. Upon completion of his pre sea training Derek joined the Canadian Pacific Line.

His first ship was the  Prome which he joined in March 1941, making one trip to Rangoon before the ship went to the Clyde to be stripped out and made ready for war.  He joined the Empire Union in September 1941, sailing in the Atlantic Convoys and braving enemy fire on a number of occasions. Although he never talked about it, we know that the Empire Union was eventually sunk by an enemy torpedo on 27^th December 1942.  This convoy, ONS 154, was described by Henry Revely in his book The Convoy That Nearly Died.  After four days afloat in an open lifeboat in the freezing North Atlantic, he and his companions were eventually rescued by the RS Toward and taken to Halifax, Nova Scotia.  He then served on the Empire Yukon between 1943 and 1944.

In 1944 he joined the P&O Company sailing mainly to the Far East.  With the war coming to an end this was a much happier time and he remained with P&O until 1952 when he obtained his Master’s Certificate. during his time with P&O Derek served on the Strathnaver,  Chitral, Strathaird, Carthage, Somali and the Corfu.

He recalled the Strathnaver as being a particularly happy ship on board of which he met his wife to be, a Wren Officer, Nina Wilkin, when she was on her way to a posting in Ceylon. They were married in 1947 and spent the first few years of their married life seeing each other for a day or two at a time at various British ports when Derek was allowed shore leave.  Upon gaining his Master’s Certificate he became a Trinity House Southampton Pilot and they were able to settle down in the Isle of Wight with their two daughters, Wendy and Michelle.

In 1961, on account of Nina’s poor health, Derek declined to move from the Isle of Wight to Southampton as Trinity House requested.   When Trinity House refused to renew his licence, a court case ensued which resulted in a victory for Isle of Wight pilots who did not wish to relocate to Southampton.  Derek then rose to become the Chief Inward Pilot and Pilot of Choice for the United States Line – the United States being the fastest liner in the world at the time.

Holidays, since childhood, were always in Cornwall where he eventually bought an apartment in a Victorian fort overlooking Plymouth Sound where he could gaze out to sea and keep an eye on the shipping.  In 2006, the onset of Parkinson’s disease and a bad fall necessitated nursing home care but he was determined to end his days on Cornish soil and died peacefully on 30^th October 2010 with his daughters at his side.

Wendy Cole