Alec Rose

File:Sir Alec Rose blue plaque.jpg

Sir Alec Rose (13 July 1908 – 11 January 1991) was a nursery owner and fruit merchant in England. After serving in the Royal Navy during World War II, he developed a passion for amateur single-handed sailing. He took part in the second single-handed Atlantic race in 1964 and circumnavigated the globe single-handedly in 1967–68, for which he was knighted. His boat Lively Lady is still seaworthy and is used for sail training by a charity.

Naval career

Alec Rose was born in Canterbury. During World War II he served in the Royal Navy as a diesel mechanic on a convoy escort, HMS Leith.

''Lively Lady''

After the war, Rose learned to sail in a former ship's lifeboat before buying the 36-foot cutter Lively Lady second-hand.{{cite news|publisher=Herald Scotland|date=17 December 2007|title=Alec Rose: Solo yachtsman|url=http://www.heraldscotland.com/alec-rose-solo-yachtsman-1.871010|accessdate=15 November 2014}} Lively Lady was built of teak planking on grown paduak frames. Her original design was by Frederick Shepherd, but this was substantially modified by S. J. P. Cambridge, the previous owner, who built her in Calcutta, with the help of two Indian cabinetmakers. Cambridge had studied boat design during the war, and Lively Lady was basic, but sturdy and stable.{{Cite magazine |last=Rye |first=Theo |date=24 January 2017 |title=Great Yacht Designs 7 - Lively Lady |url=https://www.classicboat.co.uk/articles/design/great-yacht-designs-7-lively-lady/ |magazine=Classic Boat | access-date = 2 October 2021}}{{cite web|title=Around and Around |url=http://www.aroundandaround.org/pages/aboutll.htm |accessdate=15 November 2014 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150204122817/http://aroundandaround.org/pages/aboutll.htm |archivedate=4 February 2015 }}

In 2015, the charity "Around and Around" undertook a 25-year management of the yacht and restored and extensively refitted her in time to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Rose's circumnavigation.,{{cite news|url=https://www.ybw.com/news-from-yachting-boating-world/restoration-sir-alec-roses-lively-lady-underway-60183|access-date=7 June 2022|date=25 July 2018|author=Katy Stickland|title=Sir Alec Rose's Lively Lady has been fully restored after undergoing an extensive refit}} since she has been awarded to Around and Around.{{Cite web |title=Home Page - Lively Lady |url=https://www.livelylady.org/ |access-date=2023-09-11 |language=en}}

The Lively Lady came up to St Katherine Docks in London for the classic boat show there in September 2023.

In the future she will be used again for getting young adults involved in sailing, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Single-handed Atlantic crossing

File:Sailing Yacht Lively Lady, Port Solent, Jun 2012.jpg

Rose converted Lively Lady to a yawl by adding a mizzenmast. No mizzen was set on this mast (it would interfere with the self-steering gear), but it allowed a mizzen staysail to be set, which was helpful when reaching.{{r|Classic Boat}} In 1964, Rose participated in the second single-handed transatlantic race, finishing in fourth place.{{cite web |title=Lively Lady |url=https://www.nationalhistoricships.org.uk/register/1475/lively-lady |website=National Historic Ships Register |accessdate=29 October 2020}} Not having any means of communication on board, he did not know of his success until after he crossed the finish line. The race started at Plymouth, where Rose was photographed on board by Eileen Ramsay, the chronicler of sailing in post-war Britain.{{cite web|title=Eileen Ramsay: The queen of British yachting photography (Classic Boat Magazine)|date=13 July 2011 |url=http://www.classicboat.co.uk/articles/the-queen-of-british-yachting-photography/|accessdate=16 November 2014}}

Single-handed global circumnavigation

When Rose heard that Francis Chichester intended to sail single-handedly around the world, he was keen to compete. He attempted to start his journey at approximately the same time as Chichester (sailing Gypsy Moth IV) in 1966, but mechanical failures and a collision off Ushant meant he had to postpone the event until the following year.

The voyage began on 16 July 1967. While he was away Rose's wife Dorothy ran their fruit and vegetable stall, displaying a map charting his progress. On 17 December, after 155 days and 14,500 miles, he arrived in Melbourne where he met his son who lived there. Among the people who came to watch Rose's arrival was Prime Minister Harold Holt, who disappeared later the same day after going for a swim. Rose stopped once more, an unplanned call into Bluff Harbour, New Zealand, to repair a damaged mast.

The voyage was closely followed by the British and international press and Rose's landfall at 12.33pm in Southsea, Portsmouth, on 4 July 1968, 354 days after he set off, was met by cheering crowds of hundreds of thousands. It was 10 days before his 60th birthday.{{cite news|publisher=BBC|title=On this day, 4 July 1968|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/july/4/newsid_2744000/2744481.stm|accessdate=15 November 2014}}{{cite news|publisher=British Pathé (video)|date=1968|title=Alec Rose returns|url=http://www.britishpathe.com/video/portsmouth-alec-rose-returns|accessdate=15 November 2014}} On 10 July 1968, he was made a Knight Bachelor.{{London Gazette |issue=44632 |date=12 July 1968 |page=7751 }} He was made a Freeman of the City of Portsmouth in the same year, was guest of honour at the Anglo-American Sporting Club gala evening at the London Hilton,{{cite news|publisher=British Pathé (video)|date=1968|title=Alec Rose Guest of Honour at Sporting Club|url=http://www.britishpathe.com/video/london-alec-rose-guest-of-honour-at-sporting-club/query/awards|accessdate=15 November 2014}} and fêted with Lively Lady outside the Daily Mirror Building at Holborn Circus.{{cite news|publisher=British Pathé (video)|date=1968|title=Alec Rose and Lively Lady at Daily Mirror Building|url=http://www.britishpathe.com/video/alec-rose-and-lively-lady-at-daily-mirror-building/query/dorothy|accessdate=16 November 2014}} He opened the Bamboo House Chinese restaurant in Southsea in 1968. He was granted the Freedom of the City of London in 1969.{{cite news|publisher=BBC|date=28 January 2011|title=Sir Alec Rose's Lively Lady prepares for world trip|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/hampshire/hi/people_and_places/newsid_9379000/9379349.stm|accessdate=16 November 2014}}

Rose's voyages are detailed in his book My Lively Lady. He wrote a children's version, Around the world with Lively Lady (1968) and another book My favourite tales of the sea (1969).

After circumnavigation

In 1973 Rose was given the honour of firing the starting gun for the first Whitbread Round the World Race.{{cite web|title=Drastic early days of broken boats and high drama in Whitbread Round the World Race (Yachting World)|url=http://www.yachtingworld.com/features/whitbread-round-the-world-race/|accessdate=16 November 2014}} On 17 May 1975, he opened 5th Littlehampton Sea Scouts' HQ Gordon Hall in Lineside Way, Littlehampton, West Sussex.

Rose provided the foreword for the 1980 reprint of Brouscon's Tidal Almanac of 1546.{{cite book|last=Thrower|first=Norman J. W.|title=Maps and Civilization: Cartography in Culture and Society|publisher=University of Chicago Press|page=310|date=2008|isbn=9780226799759|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cGeCNa_vookC&q=%22Alec+Rose%22+Southsea&pg=PA310|accessdate=16 November 2014}}

Publications

My Lively Lady, November 1968, Nautical Publishing Company. {{ISBN|0245595651}}.
Around the world with Lively Lady, 1968, Geoffrey Chapman, London. {{ISBN|0225273128}}.
My favourite tales of the sea, 1969, Nautical Publishing Company, Lymington, in association with George G. Harrap & Co. {{ISBN|0245598987}}.

Personal life

Rose was born in Canterbury and was educated at Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys. In his book My Lively Lady Rose described himself as a shy youth and a loner, fascinated by nature and the sea. He preferred to be self-employed rather than take a regular job, which allowed him to spend the time (over several years) preparing his yacht for the trans-Atlantic race.{{cite web|title=Sir Alec Rose: Extract from My Lively Lady|publisher=Eastney Cruising Association|url=http://www.eastneycruisingassociation.com/home/our-history/sir-alec-rose/|accessdate=16 November 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180911224946/http://www.eastneycruisingassociation.com/home/our-history/sir-alec-rose/|archive-date=2018-09-11}} Rose and his wife Dorothy ran a greengrocer's shop at 38 Osborne Road, Southsea.{{cite book|last=Sadden|first=John|publisher=The History Press|date=2012|title=The Portsmouth Book of Days|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5H87AwAAQBAJ&q=%22Alec+Rose%22+Southsea&pg=PT200|accessdate=16 November 2014|isbn=9780752485874}}

Alec Rose died aged 82 on 11 January 1991 at Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth. At the time of his death he was Admiral of the Ocean Cruising Club, and in an obituary Tim Heywood, a founder member and past Commodore who had known Rose since 1966, described him as "the epitome of the breed of great seamen: quiet, reserved and humble".{{cite web|title=Obituary – Sir Alec Rose|publisher=Ocean Cruising Club|url=http://www.oceancruisingclub.org/index.php/publications/61-fftest2011/flying-fish-1991-1/673-obituary-sir-alec-rose|accessdate=15 November 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924054618/https://www.oceancruisingclub.org/index.php/publications/61-fftest2011/flying-fish-1991-1/673-obituary-sir-alec-rose|archive-date=2015-09-24}} Rose was survived by his wife Dorothy, two sons and two daughters.{{cite news|work=The New York Times|date=13 January 1991|title=Sir Alec Rose, World-Circling Sailor|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/01/13/obituaries/sir-alec-rose-world-circling-sailor-82.html|accessdate=15 November 2014}} He bequeathed Lively Lady to Portsmouth.

Legacy

File:Lively Lady leaving Portsmouth Harbour (cropped).jpg

Alec Rose Lane in Portsmouth city centre is named after him, as is a Wetherspoon public house in Port Solent, Portsmouth and the 3rd Worthing Scout Groups 'Rose' Cub Pack. An elderly people's residence in Gosport bears his name.{{cite web|title=Alec Rose House|url=http://www.gosport.gov.uk/sections/your-council/council-services/housing/older-persons-services/alec-rose-house/|accessdate=15 November 2014}} Sir Alec's sailing club Eastney Cruising Association in Portsmouth has a Cornish Pilot Gig named after him. There is a plaque commemorating his global circumnavigation near his landing point at Southsea.{{cite web|title=Memorials and Monuments in Southsea |url=http://www.memorials.inportsmouth.co.uk/southsea/alec-rose.htm |accessdate=15 November 2014 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141129012328/http://www.memorials.inportsmouth.co.uk/southsea/alec-rose.htm |archivedate=29 November 2014 }} Rose gives his name to the RNSA Sir Alec Rose Trophy for Outstanding Single Handed achievement.{{cite web|title=History of Torpoint Mosquito Sailing Club|url=http://www.tmsc.org.uk/Club/History.htm|accessdate=15 November 2014|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141128103956/http://www.tmsc.org.uk/Club/History.htm|archivedate=28 November 2014|df=dmy-all}}

Lively Lady was displayed at the 2005 London Boat Show.{{cite news|newspaper=Telegraph|date=6 January 2005|title=Sailing into history|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/725925/Sailing-into-history.html|accessdate=15 November 2014}} A pub in Bracklesham, near Chichester, West Sussex, is named The Lively Lady after Rose's yacht.

From 2006 to 2008 Alan Priddy, founder of the Around and Around charity, circumnavigated the globe aboard Rose's yacht Lively Lady. The 60-year-old boat was crewed in stages by a group of 38 disadvantaged young adults. Which to most of them was "life changing", Priddy attributed his passion for sailing to Rose.{{cite news|publisher=BBC|date=5 July 2008|title=Lively Lady returns 40 years on|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/7491256.stm|accessdate=13 January 2011}} Lively Lady was in 2009 leased to Around and Around for 25 years so the charity could maintain and use her for training.{{cite magazine|magazine=Yachting Monthly|date=12 October 2009|title=Lively Lady returns to Alan Priddy|url=http://www.yachtingmonthly.com/news/409902/lively-lady-returns-to-alan-priddy|accessdate=16 November 2014}} In 2011 the charity announced that, after a refit, Lively Lady would undertake another circumnavigation to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Rose's achievement. The charity restored and extensively refitted the yacht in time to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Rose's circumnavigation.