DCN October Edition 2019

OBITUARY
A 1992 photo of Captain Jack Adams and
Fremantle Ports CEO Kerry Sanderson (later
WA Governor) and the bell of the vessel Gorgon
Vale Captain Jack
Mariner, chief pilot and harbour master, Captain Jack
Adams made a tremendous contribution to the Western
Australian maritime sector, writes David Sexton
LEGENDARY FORMER FREMANTLE
harbour master and chief pilot Captain
Jack Adams has been remembered following
his recent death at the age of 103. Born in
County Durham in the United Kingdom,
one of four children, Jack grew up in a small
village and first went to sea as an apprentice
on the vessel Cheldale aged 16 in 1932.
As he wrote in his memoirs, “I did
not regret going to sea as the north of
England had borne the brunt of the Great
Depression and opportunities were limited.
This region had been dependant on heavy
industry and the Depression caused a
collapse in demand for ships. My father
believed that it would be sensible for me to
get my certificates while the Depression had
a hold and I would then be qualified when
the economy improved”.
He later joined Blue Funnel Line of
Liverpool and served in the Merchant Navy
during WWII, dodging German U-boats
and Japanese warships and narrowly
avoiding the fall of Singapore.
He was said to have been deeply affected
by his war experiences and the loss of
many friends.
In 1943, aged 27, he had the distressing
task of organising medical care for the
injured survivors of the hospital ship
Centaur, a vessel torpedoed off Queensland
by a Japanese submarine which resulted in
299 deaths.
After the war, Captain Adams stayed
working with the vessel Gorgon, a ship that
traded between Singapore and Fremantle.
He was made master of the Gorgon in 1949.
It was in Fremantle in the late 1940s he
met his future wife Lorna and together they
had four children.
He took on a pilot’s role at Fremantle
after deciding he wanted a shore-based job,
opting for Western Australia over another
position available in Singapore.
He enjoyed what was described as “a long
and satisfying career as a Fremantle pilot”
beginning in 1949 and saw him serve as
chief pilot (1963-1965), harbour master
(1968 -1972) and divisional manager
operations (1972 -1976).
An event in 1962 where Captain
Adams was tasked with salvaging part of
the wrecked Italian tanker Bridgewater
attracted special attention.
According to Fremantle Port archives:
“Pilot Captain Jack Adams bought the
stern section of the disabled oil tanker
Bridgewater into Gage Roads in February
1962. This was not an easy task, he had to
exercise great care avoiding several shallow
patches, considering the deep draught of
the ship which was drawing close to 43
feet. At times there must have been only a
few feet between the ship and seabed. On
arrival at Gage Roads oil and water was
transferred to a waiting barge and then
the stern section of Bridgewater was safely
towed into the Inner Harbour.”
As Captain Adams later wrote of the
incident: “The length of this ship was 500
feet, across the beam 70 feet and tonnage
approximately 14000 tons. The job was
unusual as we had to head in a northwesterly
direction, well out to sea from the
pilot boarding grounds. It was very choppy
weather. Standing on the deck of the pilot
boat I sighted through my binoculars
what I thought looked like a ship. As we
approached we could see that there had
been extensive damage. Only part of the
ship remained. I had difficulty boarding
the large hulk via the pilot’s ladder as the
ladder did not have the usual stability
resting against the side of the ship. Instead
the ladder swung freely. I climbed by
placing the ladder side on, as the edge had
more stability.”
In a eulogy delivered at his funeral,
daughter Margaret Doust recalled her
father’s time as a pilot.
“It was thrilling as children to go out on
the pilot boat to collect Dad in Gage Roads.
The ship would slow down and the pilot
boat would move closer, dark green water
rushing between the two vessels,” Mrs
Doust said.
“I never tired of watching Dad nimbly
climb down the long rope ladder and leap
onto the swaying deck of the pilot boat,
standing steadily on his sea legs.”
Captain Adams retired in 1977 but
he and Lorna used their time to make
many overseas trips, often on cargo
ships. They also got to spend time with
their grandchildren and later great
grandchildren.
He published his autobiography A Pinch
of Salt in 1996. Speaking with Daily Cargo
News, daughter Judy Boyne said her father
never lost his love of the sea.
“{Jack and Lorna Adams] bought a house
a hundred metres from the sea at Cottesloe
in Perth,” Mrs Boyne recalled.
“He could just sit on the veranda and
look at the ocean.”
Fremantle Ports
64 October 2019
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