Ralph Hammond-Innes
1913 - 1998
Photo by Count Zichy 1954
Courtesy of NPG
Hammond Innes, the nom de plume he used as the author of many exciting novels, was a writer who made a point of researching the material for his adventures in great depth. If he was writing about oil-rigs then he spent time on an oil-rig; if about the Antarctic then he spent time in the frozen South. His was therefore a highly adventurous life.
He was a yachtsman of considerable note. A member of the Royal Yacht Squadron, of the Royal Ocean Racing Club, a stalwart of the Royal Cruising Club and a keen supporter of many East Coast sailing organisations. The Royal Cruising Club remember him with particular gratitude. Following a visit to the Royal Navy's Hydrographic Office, the club established its Pilotage Foundation and Ralph was its first Vice Chairman. In that capacity his contacts in the publishing world were of enormous value, and through his encouragement and support the foundation flourished, now producing some 19 well respected nautical publications.
Ocean Racing
Ralph and his wife Dorothy were brave sailors and ventured much further afield than do most yachtsmen. In their Triune of Troy and later in Mary Deare they took part in ocean races and explored together the coast of Europe from Norway right round into the Mediterranean to Turkey - they went in search of memories.
In the early days of the schooner Sir Winston Churchill he sailed as Purser on a voyage from Portsmouth to Stockholm and at the end he asked the Captain if he could write the voyage report. On reading his words it is easy to see how much he had absorbed of the benefits which the voyage had given to the young crew. The end of his voyage report reads, "It was a wonderful sunny morning. Trees blazed like giant flowers in their autumn tints. The Skargard that morning was so beautiful that the dirty weather, the headwinds and the cold were forgotten. We had come almost 1,300 miles. We were in the north now and the air was crisp and bracing. It all seemed suddenly enormously worthwhile and boys who had come on board, raw to the sea, moved now with greater confidence - most of them one step nearer to adulthood."
Tall Ships and ASTO
Hammond Innes with watch leaders and Captain Patrick Collis on board the STA Schooner Sir Winston Churchill
The experience stayed in his mind over the next thirty years and was topped up when he came to the Isle of Man at the time when a Tall Ships Race ended there. Shortly afterwards he agreed to become a Vice Patron of ASTO, a post he held from 1978 until his death.
In the last few years of his life he had indicated that he was minded to leave some money to the Association to enable it to continue its work. Dorothy, his wife, had pre-deceased him and neither of them had any close relatives, but no one had any idea that "some money" would be the bulk of his estate - several million pounds.
Enduring legacy
What his generosity means is that ASTO's member organisations will be able to provide a great many more young people with the benefits of offshore sailing, which they otherwise would not be able to afford. These benefits will enable them to take one step nearer to adulthood and will undoubtedly provide them with their own memories.
John Hamilton OBE, former ASTO Chairman.