Protector name lives on
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News that a new HMS Protector is to be commissioned to take the place of HMS Endurance has just reached us and will be welcomed by many Fids as much as by members of the HMS Protector Society.
Details of the new ship have not yet been released but will, as and when, no doubt be of great interest and possibly some speculation by Fids and members of the association.
One of the association members, Gervase Markham, has been in touch to say that he is aiming to join us in St Paul's Cathderal on 10 May despite the high prices now being charged for flights to London during the Royal Wedding weeks.
He first contacted the Trust through our website on 10 January to say that he joined the Royal Navy as a 'Boy Entrant' in 1957 despite objections from his family. In 1960 he was drafted to HMS Protector, his third ship and undertook two trips south, finishing in 1962.
He comments, "What a 'Wonderful Experience' albeit I was 18-20 year old "Bunting Tosser" (communications rating) , one of two each year." Recently he has made contact with his then offsider, who visited Australia in April 2010.
Now in retirement he has been working on his family history and discovered, to his complete surprise, that his links with the Antarctic go further and deeper than he had known in his Protector days. He discovered that his great grandfather was General Sir Edwin Markham whose cousin was Sir Clement Markham, the man who, as President of the Royal Geographic Society, did more than anyone else to make Captain Scott's expeditions possible.
He went to Australia with his 'own' family in 1968 and some years later received some crates of items left to him by family members. Now he has spent time going through his Family Tree and spoken with my elder sister, and can now understand why there were 'some' family resistance to my entering at the Royal Navy at such an early age.
He writes, "Regrets, none! However wish I had the opportunity to 'Go South' one last time. Firstly however to be in London for St Paul's Memorial."
Roderick Rhys Jones