We have been informed that Alec Bradley died peacefully in Roselands Nursing Home on Tuesday January 10. He had lived for many years in Rope Walk, Rye and was a regular attender at St Mary’s Church.
He was a familiar figure, whom I often encountered 10 or 15 years ago, wheeling his wooden barrow along the eastern embankment of the River Rother. A solitary figure, he would be collecting driftwood for his fire at home or bringing saplings to plant along the river bank. Today these can be seen as trees, grown to a good height, below the path beyond North Point and also by the little bridge on the cycle track to Camber.
He seemed to have a nautical air and I thought of him as a retired ship’s captain, so it was no surprise to learn that he had served in the Royal Navy and then in the merchant navy for many years. As a result he was conscious of having missed for those years all the excitement of political and social upheavals in the world, according to a former neighbour.
I did not know him well but he was always a pleasure to meet and had a friendly word for everyone. It is understood that family members in New Zealand are coming over for the funeral on a date to be announced.
Alec was not only a seamen, but also an excellent cook. When he lived in Eagle Road, he once invited us to a curry evening, He must have picked up a few culinary tips on his voyages, as it really was a truly splendid meal! His hospitality and his friendliness give us fond memories, and Rye has lost yet another revered and familiar character.
We shall miss him.
Annie and John Dawkins.
Alec was a special character. I knew him when I had the little Norse gaff cutter Norse Maid in Rye. While in the Merchant Navy, Alec had the official position of Lamp Trimmer. When he went ashore between ships he sailed his Falmouth Quay Punt yacht built in 1909. Alec bought her in 1951 and in 1953 he got fed up with the Thornycroft engine and heaved it overside and stuck a plug in the propshaft opening. Thereafter he cruised from Rye to Falmouth engineless apart from shipping an outboard so as to get out of the Rother when he left the port. He was a first class sailor and we all learned heaps from him. Once in Fowey he had anchored in a place which became quite crowded and when he left under sail he had to avoid other yachts at anchor and prevent spearing them with his long bowsprit. A bystander photographed the whole operation and sent them to him. He calmly walked the deck to shift tack; haul in his anchor line and make it fast, walk back to drop the helm to the other tack and continue to sail up his cable finally lifting the anchor off the bottom before clearing between the yachts and being able to ship the anchor. He joked lightly about lubbers dreams littering the foreshore while providing rental income for moorings owners who would build big wheelhouses on their boats or strip everything back to the hull on others and then dispiritedly give up the job. He made dry comments like “Look at all the Rizzons and Toreouts on Moon Marine”
Alec kept his cutter Neferetiti at Phillip’s yard and on the day he laid her up for the last time I helped him on to her berth. Connie, Martin Hutch and I prompted Alec to give the boat to the TS Rye Sea Cadets but they tragically could not take her on account of the health and safety procedural limitations and expense (the new UK). He always said of his boat “she’s got yellow dumps” meaning they would not hold properly. At last he cut through the garboard and the first two strakes and they were as good as they were when fitted in Cornwall in 1909 still having lustre on the fibres where his saw cut through. He gave me a lot of the parts like the ports, mainsail and gaff for Norse Maid and a lot of other bits were given to ‘Jungle John’ who was rebuilding a Plymouth Hooker in which he sailed to the Carribean and back. There was also a Colin Archer ferro boat (a stone boat) called GOA which lay for years in Phillips yard and Alec would teasingly ask the owners ‘how the non-Goa was doing’
Alec was also fond of poetry and was very partial to Hilaire Belloc and in a funny way Walt Whitman too though he called him a ‘layabout’ It is also true that he was a Christian and believed in the salvation message of Jesus we can be confident that he will casting a watchful eye over the bannisters of Heaven encouraging our seamanship from on high.
Alec will be sorely missed with his dry speech and Yorkshire accent. Still I am confident that I will see him again.