70 INTERVIEW BY GINNY FARRELL


Lloyd Turner


From hauling crab pots in the North Sea to running Dartmouth’s historic Lower Ferry, Lloyd Turner has spent most of his life on the water. Now a member of the Dartmouth Harbour Authority board, he brings more than three decades of hard-earned maritime experience to the river he calls home.


I


f there’s one thing that has shaped Lloyd Turner’s life, it’s the sea.


For more than 30 years he has


worked in the marine industry - first as a fisherman, then as skipper of commercial boats, and now as man- ager of Dartmouth’s Lower Ferry. Tese days he also sits on the Dart- mouth Harbour Authority board and chairs its Safety, Health, Environ- ment and Wellbeing Committee, bringing a lifetime of experience to the table. “Te idea is to make safety on the


river more of a collective effort,” he explains. “We’ve got harbour staff in- volved but also representatives from the Castle Ferry, Dart Sailability, the lifeboats and a marine surveyor. Tat way everyone who works on the river has a voice.” Te committee reviews safety


procedures, risk assessments and staff welfare, making sure potential problems are spotted early. With more than three decades of practical maritime experience behind him, Lloyd is well placed to help guide it. “I’ve been in the marine industry


for over 30 years,” he says. “Tat’s why I’m on the harbour board really, for the commercial experience.” Lloyd grew up in Wolverhampton before moving to Dartmouth at the


age of 13. “My mum worked at a British


Legion club in Wolverhampton,” he says. “My dad Graham was originally from Dartmouth and always said if he ever got the chance he’d move back.” Tat chance came when a job


opened up at the Dartmouth branch of the Royal British Legion, which included accommodation. Te family relocated to the town and never leſt. For Lloyd, the move felt natural. “My grandparents had already


“I could be off the north coast of Scotland sitting in the wheelhouse in a


screaming gale and I’d just be mesmerised by it.”


moved here, so I’d been visiting since I was about six. I’d spend my summer holidays going out in my grandfather, Bill Turner’s, angling boat almost every day. I loved it. I had more friends here than I did in Wolverhampton.” Before long he joined the


Dartmouth Sea Cadets, and the sea became a permanent part of his life. Aſter leaving school, Lloyd began working for Dartmouth fisherman Rick Mitchelmore and eventually spent 22 years in the industry, 15 of them as a skipper. At just 23 he became skipper of


what was then the largest shellfish vessel in Europe. Much of the early work involved


fishing for crab and lobster from Dartmouth, but eventually the oper- ation expanded north to Scotland. Lloyd spent several years fishing


off the north coast near the Orkneys. “It was brutal up there,” he says.


“Wild, bleak and there’s nobody around.” Crews lived aboard the boat for


a month at a time before heading home for two weeks’ leave. “It was good money, but it’s hard


when you’ve got a young family.” When Rick commissioned an even


larger vessel, Lloyd initially hesitated about committing to another long


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