Bill King (Royal Navy officer)
{{short description|British naval officer, yachtsman, author}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2012}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2018}}{{Infobox military person
|name= Bill King
|birth_name = William Donald Aelian King
|birth_date= {{Birth date|1910|06|23|df=y}}
|death_date= {{death date and age|2012|9|21|1910|6|23|df=y}}
|death_place=
|nickname= Bill
|image= Bill new.jpg
|caption= Bill King
|allegiance= United Kingdom
|branch= Royal Navy
|serviceyears= December 1927 – April 1946
|rank= Commander
|unit= Submarine Service
|commands= Commanding officer:
- {{HMS|Snapper|39S|6}} (1939–40)
- {{HMS|Trusty|N45|6}} (1941)
- {{HMS|Telemachus|P321|6}} (1943–45)
- HMS Medway II (1943)
- {{HMS|Forth|A187|6}} (1945–46)
|battles= North Sea (1939–40)
Mediterranean Sea (1941)
Action of 17 July 1944
|awards= Distinguished Service Order (1940)
Distinguished Service Cross (1940)
Bar to the DSO (1945)
Arctic Emblem (2006)
Others: 1939–1945 Star, Atlantic Star, Africa Star, Burma Star, War Medal 1939–1945Medal names were deduced by comparing a photograph of Commander King's medals [http://bp1.blogger.com/_TDhFeXYJEr0/RXiOb5s48HI/AAAAAAAAADo/161WSuoyrYQ/s1600-h/king+bill+2006001.jpg] with images in the booklet British Armed Forces Medals,[http://www.mod.uk/NR/rdonlyres/F094AB02-070D-4D93-A15C-EDA1694A1591/0/Medals_Booklet.pdf] published by the Medals Office of the British Ministry of Defence, and should be regarded as approximations. Both images retrieved on 14 February 2008.
Civilian: Blue Water Medal (1975)
|relations= Anita Leslie (spouse)
William King (grandfather)
|laterwork= Farmer
Solo circumnavigator (1969–73)
Author (1958–97)
}}
Commander William Donald Aelian King, DSO & Bar, DSC (23 June 1910 – 21 September 2012) was a British naval officer, yachtsman and author. He was the oldest participant in the first solo non-stop, around-the-world yacht race, the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race, and the only person to command a British submarine on both the first and last days of World War II.{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/military-obituaries/naval-obituaries/9561339/Commander-Bill-King.html|title=Obituaries:Commander Bill King|work=Daily Telegraph|date=23 September 2012|access-date=25 September 2012}}
Brought up by his mother and grandmother, King went to the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth. He was first assigned to the battleship {{HMS|Resolution|09|2}}, and later became commanding officer of the submarine {{HMS|Snapper|39S|2}}. He commanded three separate RN submarines in World War II, and was promoted to commander and awarded seven medals during the war. King not only survived World War II, but succeeded in a singlehanded circumnavigation in 1973 on his third attempt. During the latter journey, he managed to reach port despite a collision with a large sea creature {{convert|400|mi|km}} southwest of Australia.
Family background and childhood
William Donald Aelian King was born to William Albert de Courcy King and Georgina Marie MacKenzie in 1910. King's great-grandfather, William King, was Chair of Mineralogy and Geology at Queen's College, Galway. He was appointed when the College first opened in 1849.[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article649357.ece Sharrock, David. 2006]{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} "A medal at 96? I was not brave or clever", TimesOnline Interview with King about his Arctic Medal and war stories; retrieved 7 January 2008.[https://archive.today/20130217220645/http://www.ucg.ie/science/king.html National University of Ireland, Galway]. "William King (1809–1886)", History of NUI Galway, the Science Faculty and associated scientists; retrieved 7 January 2008. William King was the first to argue that Neanderthals were a species separate from modern humans.
King's father, William Albert de Courcy King, was born in 1875. He married Georgina Marie, daughter of a "Mr. D. F. MacKenzie, of Collingwood Grange, Camberley, Surrey" in June 1908.[http://www7.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?r=118609643&d=bmd_1197378781&scan=1 FreeBMD]{{dead link|date=July 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}} "Marriages Jun 1908: MacKenzie, Georgina Marie". freebmd.org.uk; retrieved 7 January 2008.[http://genforum.genealogy.com/cgi-bin/print.cgi?leslie::1370.html Bunbury, Turtle. 2003.] "The Leslie Family: Hungary to Ireland (12th century – 2003)"; retrieved 7 January 2008.[https://books.google.com/books?id=kG0pzzLYTXEC Warnock, Gabrielle and Jeff W. O'Connell. 2000], Face to Face. Trident Press Ltd., pg. 249; retrieved 7 January 2008. De Courcy King attended Royal Military Academy, Woolwich and then the School of Military Engineering, Chatham.[http://www.finanandco.co.uk/April2003.htm Finan & Co. 2003] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070705050827/http://www.finanandco.co.uk/April2003.htm|date=5 July 2007}} "St. Lucia & Africa: the albums of Lt.-Col. William Albert de Courcy King, D.S.O., R.E." Item 179, Spring Sale, Saturday 5 April. Fine Art Consultants, Auctioneers, and Valuers. Retrieved on 7 January 2008. He received his commission as a second lieutenant in the Royal Engineers in 1894.{{London Gazette|issue=26561|page=5795|date=16 October 1894}} Prior to World War I, his postings included Saint Lucia in the 1890s, where the Engineers constructed gun emplacements and fortified coal stations, and South Africa, where the Engineers built blockhouses (designed by Major S. R. Rice, RE) during the Anglo Boer War.[http://www.remuseum.org.uk/rem_his_engineer.htm Royal Engineers Museum] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100530194449/http://www.remuseum.org.uk/rem_his_engineer.htm|date=30 May 2010}} "Field (Combat) Engineers, Significant Dates and Events, 1899–1902"; retrieved 7 January 2008. De Courcy King was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) in 1916 while a major,{{London Gazette|issue=29608|supp=y|pages=5566–5568|date=2 June 1916}} during the First World War, serving later as Lieutenant-Colonel with the 36th (Ulster) Division in Belgium.{{citation needed|date=January 2018}} He was killed on 27 May 1917 at the age of 42, and lies buried at Dranoutre Military Cemetery in Belgium.[http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/453611 Commonwealth War Graves Commission.] "Casualty Details: King, William Albert de Courcey" (sic); retrieved 7 January 2008.
As a result of his father's death, Bill King was brought up by his mother and grandmother.{{cite web|url=http://www.galwayadvertiser.ie/dws/story.tpl?inc=2004/08/26/galwaydiary/49969.html|title=Galway Diary. 2004|access-date=31 August 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071120064544/http://www.galwayadvertiser.ie/dws/story.tpl?inc=2004%2F08%2F26%2Fgalwaydiary%2F49969.html|archive-date=20 November 2007}} "The strange journey to Oranmore Castle", Galway Advertiser, 26 August 2004; retrieved 7 January 2008. His MacKenzie grandmother was a formidable woman who learned to ski at the age of 75 and still sailed in her eighties.
World War II
During World War II, King served in three submarines of the Royal Navy: Snapper, {{HMS|Trusty|N45|2}}, and {{HMS|Telemachus|P321|2}}. He patrolled the North Sea, the Mediterranean, and the Far East.[http://www.biblio.com/details.php?dcx=66496856&aid=frg Biblio.com]. Dive & Attack (rev. ed.) by King, Cdr. W. Description. Retrieved on 7 January 2008.
At the outbreak of the war, King and Snapper were sent to patrol the North Sea. King was commanding officer on Snapper from 16 April 1939 to April 1940. On 3 December 1939, Snapper sustained a direct hit from a British aircraft while returning to Harwich after a patrol, but without taking damage.[http://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/3425.html "Allied Warships: HMS Snapper (N 39). Submarine of the S class"], uboat.net; retrieved 7 January 2008.
Between December 1939 and July 1940, Snapper sank six ships, mainly in the Skagerrak Strait. These include the tanker Moonsund, the merchant ship Florida, the minesweepers H. M. Behrens and Carsten Janssen, and the armed trawlers Portland and Cygnus. Snapper was later lost under command of Lieutenant Geoffrey Vernon Prowse, either in a minefield or sunk by German depth charges.Kindell, Don.[http://www.naval-history.net/xDKCas1941-02FEB.htm "1–28 February 1941: Snapper, submarine, lost" -- Casualty Lists of the Royal Navy and Dominion Navies, 1922–present], naval-history.net; retrieved 7 January 2008.
In 1941, King served on the T-class submarine Trusty in the Mediterranean Sea. On 4 December 1941 Trusty unsuccessfully launched torpedoes against a boat which may have been the Italian torpedo boat Orsa.[http://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/3504.html uboat.net "Allied Warships: HMS Trusty (N 45). Submarine of the T class"]; retrieved 7 January 2008.[http://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/10971.html uboat.net.] "Allied Warships: Orsa. Torpedo boat of the Orsa class." Retrieved on 7 January 2008.
From 21 July 1943 to August 1945, King was commanding officer of the T-class submarine Telemachus. Telemachus dropped off a special forces unit in western Malaya in October 1944.[http://home.cogeco.ca/~gchalcraft/sm/page19.html#Telemachus HMS Telemachus.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110326162108/http://home.cogeco.ca/~gchalcraft/sm/page19.html |date=26 March 2011 }} "British Submarines of World War Two." Retrieved on 12 February 2008.
Operating from a joint British-Dutch base at Ceylon, Telemachus sank the Japanese Kadai-class submarine I-166 in the Strait of Malacca on 17 July 1944.[http://www.combinedfleet.com/I-166.htm Hackett, Bob & Sander Kingsepp. 2001.] "Sensuikan! HIJMS Submarine I-166: Tabular Record of Movement." Retrieved on 7 January 2008.[http://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/3519.html uboat.net]. "Allied Warships: HMS Telemachus (P 321). Submarine of the T class." Retrieved on 7 January 2008. Telemachus tracked I-166 for 30 minutes, then fired a spread of six torpedoes. One torpedo hit, and sank the Japanese boat with 89 lives lost; five men on bridge watch survived to be rescued by the Japanese.
During the war, King was promoted to commander, and awarded seven medals, including the DSO on 9 May 1940 for "daring, endurance and resource in the conduct of hazardous and successful operations in His Majesty's Submarines against the enemy",{{London Gazette|issue=34845|supp=y|page=2786|date=7 May 1940}} and the Distinguished Service Cross on 6 September 1940 "for bravery and determination during arduous and successful patrols in H.M. Submarines" both whilst in command of Snapper.{{London Gazette|issue=34941|supp=y|page=5442|date=6 September 1940}}
A bar was added to his DSO on 16 January 1945 "For outstanding courage, skill and determination in one of H.M. Submarines in successful patrols in Far Eastern waters"{{London Gazette|issue=36895|supp=y|page=417|date=12 January 1945}} (specifically the sinking of I-166).[http://www.britishmedalforum.com/viewtopic.php?p=94573&sid=dcd6515015e3e0915e0ba5fe9d09cc22 British Medal Forum.] "Local Hero". British, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand, Indian, South African and all Commonwealth Medals. britishmedalforum.com. Retrieved on 7 January 2008. In 2006, he received an eighth medal, the Arctic Emblem.
King ended his Royal Navy career as executive officer of the submarine depot ship {{HMS|Forth|A187|2}}, an appointment he held from 1 September 1945 to April 1946. His formal retirement came on 9 May 1948.{{London Gazette|issue=38239|page=1882|date=16 March 1948}}{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/military-obituaries/naval-obituaries/9561339/Commander-Bill-King.html|title=Commander Bill King |publisher=Telegraph |date=23 September 2012|access-date=8 October 2012}}
Post-war life and marriage
On 1 January 1949, King married Anita Leslie, a divorcée, whose full name was Anita Theodosia Moira Leslie Rodzianko 1914–1984). She was the eldest child of Sir John Randolph Shane Leslie, 3rd Baronet (aka Shane Leslie), and his wife Marjorie Ide, the Vermont-born daughter of the US ambassador to Spain.[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1912/06/12/100538737.pdf "Marjorie Ide Weds Under Canopy"], New York Times, 12 June 1912; retrieved 7 January 2008.
Bill and Anita probably met in Lebanon in 1943, where King served for 5 months as executive officer of the submarine base at Beirut. She was on a skiing trip after doing duty in Africa in the Motor Transport Corps in 1940–42, although a letter mentions her being in Beirut in 1941–42.[http://library.georgetown.edu/dept/speccoll/fl/f163%7D25.htm Georgetown University Libraries.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060902211256/http://www.library.georgetown.edu/dept/speccoll/fl/f163%7D25.htm |date=2 September 2006 }} "Special Collections: Sir Shane Leslie Papers" Box: 31 Fold: 1 Alec Waugh. Letter(s) dated 28 August 1949; retrieved 7 January 2008. Leslie-King then became an ambulance driver in the French Army from 1944 to 1945. For the latter, she was awarded the Croix de Guerre in 1945 by General Charles de Gaulle. As Anita Leslie, she wrote over a dozen books, including Love in a Nutshell (1952), The Remarkable Mr. Jerome: The Life and Times of Leonard Jerome, Sir Winston Churchill's American Grandfather (1954).{{citation needed|date=January 2018}} In 1974 she wrote the biography of Francis Chichester, the first person to sail around the world single-handedly with only one stop. The Kings had two children.
After the war, King took up farming and was an avid fox hunter, as was his wife. In 1946, the Kings bought Oranmore Castle, a 15th century Norman keep built on Galway Bay Ireland for £200.
Other sources report that Anita Leslie-King was given the castle by her mother, who had bought it in 1946.[http://www.tourismresources.ie/cht/oranmore/index.htm tourismresources.ie] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120212011835/http://www.tourismresources.ie/cht/oranmore/index.htm|date=12 February 2012}} "A Royal Castle! Oranmore Castle, near Galway. Havens & Hideaways"; retrieved 7 January 2008.
For a while, the Kings lived in a hunting lodge outside Oranmore village, designed by Bill, and built while he and Anita went on a "world sailing cruise."Finlan, Michael. [https://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/property/2006/1026/1161565778535.html "Galway Hunting Lodge is bang on"], The Irish Times; retrieved 8 January 2008. To help combat his wife's asthma, King developed an organic farm and garden to feed his family. Both Anita Leslie's mother and grandmother had suffered asthma.{{YouTube|p3jm8lkGcOk|Tsurukame, Akira}} Video of a visit with Commander Bill King at Oranmore; retrieved 15 February 2008.
Later life
In September 2007, King and his daughter Leonie, still lived at Oranmore Castle. His life's experiences continued to attract media attention, from film to music to art installation.
He was filmed for two documentaries about the Golden Globe Race; the 1960s BBC short Golden Globe – Lone Sailor Round the World Race and 2006's Deep Water. His war experiences still fascinate documentary film makers. King was interviewed for two planned productions, a 24 minute episode entitled "To Honour and Peace" for the proposed series entitled Bravery Beneath the Waves,[http://www.periscopeproduction.com/tohonour.shtml Periscope Productions] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061128014559/http://www.periscopeproduction.com/tohonour.shtml|date=28 November 2006}} "To Honour and Peace." Episode from proposed Bravery Beneath the Waves series; retrieved 15 February 2008. and for The Stick & The Stars: The Life & Times of Commander Bill King.
Most recent attention arises from King's interaction with Akira Tsurukame and Katja Boonstra-Blom – the subject of print media articles, an exhibition, and video interviews. Tsurukame, son of the chief engineer who perished with I-166, in 2004 sought out King. King, Tsurukame, and Katja Boonstra, whose father was killed when I-166 sank the Dutch submarine K XVI, together planted a tree at Oranmore Castle to honour the fathers of the latter two.O'Gorman, Ronnie,[http://www.galwayadvertiser.ie/dws//story.tpl?inc=2004/08/26/news/49910.html] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071120065041/http://www.galwayadvertiser.ie/dws/story.tpl?inc=2004%2F08%2F26%2Fnews%2F49910.html|date=20 November 2007}} "Tree of peace planted as former enemies embrace beside Galway Bay", Galway Advertiser, 24 August 2004. (In 2004 King meets the son of a Japanese chief engineer, whose submarine (I-166) was sunk on 17 July 1944 by HMS Telemachus under King's command); retrieved 7 January 2008.
The local paper, The Galway Advertiser, dubbed their threeway meeting at Oranmore Castle a "reconciliation". Subsequently Akira Tsurukame released video material of his interviews with Bill King on the internet. Two installations in July 2006 at the Project 06 art exhibition in Galway referenced King. Response to Japanese Peace and Reconciliation was arranged in Swan House, and featured art-works by his daughter Leonie King and grand-daughter Heather Finn. The Lost at Sea installation was a collaboration between Galway-based Cane 141, who set stories told by Bill King to electronic music, and visual artist Roisin Coyle. The latter installation has since been exhibited in Dublin, and in May 2007 at Grace Exhibition Space in New York City.[http://www.cane141.com/news.html Caine141.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071220211609/http://www.cane141.com/news.html|date=20 December 2007}} Lost at Sea Installation; retrieved 15 February 2008.[http://gracespace.multiply.com/calendar/item/10046 Grace Exhibition Space] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110714131701/http://gracespace.multiply.com/calendar/item/10046|date=14 July 2011}} Roisin Mary Installation; retrieved 15 February 2008.[http://www.romyillustrations.com/id71.html "Lost at Sea"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090531095006/http://www.romyillustrations.com/id71.html|date=31 May 2009}} Grace Exhibition Space, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York, May 2007; retrieved 15 February 2008.
In 2009, Bill King's great nephew Luke Leslie produced the short film King of the Waves, which dramatised King's solo circumnavigation and encounter with the great white shark. It also included interviews with King himself. It was screened before King and his family in Oranmore, County Galway on his ninety-ninth birthday shortly before premiering at the 2009 Galway, Cork and Kerry film festivals.{{cite web|author=Personal stylist|url=http://www.independent.ie/national-news/all-hail-the-king-of-the-waves-a-hero-whos-still-young-at-heart-1794653.html|title=All hail the King of the waves, a hero who's still young at heart|publisher=Independent.ie|access-date=8 October 2012}}
King died in September 2012.{{cite web|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/0922/1224324272443.html|title=Oldest War submarine commander dies at 102|publisher=The Irish Times|date=22 September 2012|access-date=8 October 2012|archive-date=19 October 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121019182237/http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2012/0922/1224324272443.html|url-status=dead}} At the time of his death, he was the oldest surviving World War II submarine commander.
Published works
- 1958: The Stick and the Stars. (Hutchinson).
- 1969: Capsize. (Nautical Publishing
- 1975: Adventure in Depth.(Putnam Publishing).
- 1983: Dive and Attack. Revises and updates The Stick and the Stars, describes author's experiences during World War II. (W. Kimber/ Hutchinson)
- 1989: The Wheeling Stars : A Guide for Lone Sailors. Boston, London: Faber & Faber.
- 1997: Kamikaze: the Wind of God (Minerva Press)
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://vimeo.com/11360812 King of the Waves (Short Film) ]
- {{IMDb name|id=3566072}}
- [http://9livesproductions.com/index.html The Stick and The Stars: The Life & Times of Commander Bill King]. A proposed documentary on Bill King.
- Videos of Bill King during visit with Akira Tsurukama and Katja Boonstra-Blom, in Japanese and English. Opens video files directly. {{YouTube|p3jm8lkGcOk}}
{{good article}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:King, Bill}}
Category:British men centenarians
Category:Single-handed sailors
Category:Circumnavigators of the globe
Category:Recipients of the Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom)
Category:Royal Navy officers of World War II
Category:Royal Navy submarine commanders