HISTORY
Crucible for Heroes:(Part 1) the remarkable voyage of the Tai Mo Shan
I
n 1933, five men began an epic journey by yacht that would end in Dartmouth
after more than 16,000 miles. Like a good Boy’s Own Adventure it would be filled with peril and incident and even a dash of espionage. Perhaps more amazingly, the
men would undertake even more daring feats in the service of their country less than a decade later. The Tai Mo Shan is still an
by Phil Scoble
incredible piece of engineering, more than 80 years on from its construction. In fact, when you hear how she was constructed, it’s tough to think what would stop her; made from teak with a lead keel alone weighing seven tonnes and the entire boat weighing in at over 23 tonnes. It was designed and built to withstand anything the high seas could throw at it, for a very good reason: its designers knew there was a high chance they would face some of the most challenging conditions imaginable as they made their way home. A Lloyd’s broker later described her solid construction as twice their top specification. They would need it. The intrepid sailors determined to
undertake this daring feat of seamanship were, in fact, four submariners and a naval doctor; Lt Martyn Sherwood, 32, Lt George Salt, 24, Lt Philip Francis, 24, Surgeon Lt Bertie Ommaney-Davis, 27 and sailing- master Lt Robert Edward Dudley (known, unsurprisingly, as “Red”) Ryder, 24. They asked special permission to return
Above : The Tai Mo Shan in Hong Kong. Above right: Crew from L to R -Surgeon-Lieutenant Berty Ommanney, Lieutenant Commander Martyn Sherwood, Lieutenant Robert (Red) Ryder Davis Ryder, Lieutenant George Salt
the ‘Grand Tour’ had been granted by the Admiralty
on one condition: TO use it as a spying
expedition.
Luckily for them, the Vice-Commodore of the Hong Kong sailing club was also a renowned yacht designer. HM Rouse listened carefully to what the five men were determined to do and designed them a 54-foot racing ketch that was strong enough to withstand, well, pretty much anything the seas could throw at it. “Uncle” Rouse, as the sailors called him, did them proud. Ryder supervised the construction of the yacht in the dry dock of the yard of the Hong Kong & Whampoa Dock Co Ltd., whilst Salt and Francis were taught to cook by a Swiss chef (Hong Kong always was a cosmopolitan melting pot, it seems). They were doing the entire voyage on rather less than a shoestring and could only afford to do so because the world was in a massive economic slowdown, bringing down the cost of the construction materials and the man power required to create the behemoth beauty in sturdy teak. They named the ketch ‘Tai Mo Shan’, after the highest mountain in Hong Kong
to Britain from where they were stationed in Hong Kong, against the prevailing winds, via Japan, a little known group of islands in the Pacific called the Kentiles, the Bering Sea, California and the Panama Canal. The route was 16,217 miles long. Their commanding officer, whilst congratulating them for
their “spirit of adventure and initiative”, cut their pay in half for the duration of the voyage. Lt Sherwood wrote later that he was “quite right” to do so but it left the crew just seven shillings a day for as long as they were at sea. It meant that when they opted to have the perfect yacht built in Hong Kong they decided not to have an engine installed.
(it means ‘High Hat Hill’). Setting off, some on the harbour side were surprised to see a yacht with no engine or heads being loaded with rather advanced and expensive radio equipment. As it turned out, the ‘Grand Tour’ the sailors were having had been granted by the Admiralty on one condition: to use it as a spying expedition. Their route happened to take them into waters
frequented by the Japanese Navy, which Britain rightly saw as a threat given the expansionist plans of its Emperor and Prime Minister. The crew was on the lookout for safe harbours that could
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132 |
Page 133 |
Page 134 |
Page 135 |
Page 136 |
Page 137 |
Page 138 |
Page 139 |
Page 140 |
Page 141 |
Page 142 |
Page 143 |
Page 144 |
Page 145 |
Page 146 |
Page 147 |
Page 148 |
Page 149 |
Page 150 |
Page 151 |
Page 152 |
Page 153 |
Page 154 |
Page 155 |
Page 156 |
Page 157 |
Page 158 |
Page 159 |
Page 160 |
Page 161 |
Page 162 |
Page 163 |
Page 164