Captain William Edward Rawlins Eyton-Jones,

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(11 November 1894 – 23 January 1984), often shortened to 'Pop' Jones, was a Merchant Navy

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

and

master mariner A master mariner is a licensed mariner who holds the highest grade of licensed seafarer qualification; namely, a master's license. A master mariner is therefore allowed to serve as the captain (nautical), master of a merchant ship for which natio ...

who served in various theatres during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, most notably in the

Battle of the Atlantic The Battle of the Atlantic, the longest continuous military campaign in World War II, ran from 1939 to the defeat of Nazi Germany in 1945, covering a major part of the naval history of World War II. At its core was the Allies of World War II, ...

Early life

Eyton-Jones was born on 11 November 1894 in

Ash Ash is the solid remnants of fires. Specifically, ''ash'' refers to all non-aqueous, non- gaseous residues that remain after something burns. In analytical chemistry, to analyse the mineral and metal content of chemical samples, ash is the ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, is a member of the Eyton-Jones family, and a nephew of Dr John Eyton-Jones.

Career

During the early 1900s, Eyton-Jones trained as a junior naval officer with the

Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company P&O (in full, The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company) was a British shipping and logistics company dating from the early 19th century. Formerly a public company, it was sold to DP World in March 2006 for £3.9 billion. DP World ...

before joining Ben Line Steamers as a Second Officer in March 1915 at the age of 31. He spent the next few years working for Ben Line and is recorded docking at

Ellis Island Ellis Island is an island in New York Harbor, within the U.S. states of New Jersey and New York (state), New York. Owned by the U.S. government, Ellis Island was once the busiest immigrant inspection and processing station in the United State ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

in 1917, while serving aboard Ben Line's ''Bencleuch'' as Second Officer. On 26 November 1926, Eyton-Jones was promoted to Captain, becoming Master of ''Benlawers''. Eyton-Jones remained a Captain for Ben Line until his retirement in 1969 by which time he had become the Senior Master and

Commodore Commodore may refer to: Ranks * Commodore (rank), a naval rank ** Commodore (Royal Navy), in the United Kingdom ** Commodore (India), in India ** Commodore (United States) ** Commodore (Canada) ** Commodore (Finland) ** Commodore (Germany) or ' ...

of the Ben Line fleet.

World War II

Eyton-Jones was Master of ''Benvrackie'' when, on 13 May 1941, after dispersing from Convoy OB.312, she was torpedoed by the U-boat , 630 miles southwest of Freetown,

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...

in the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

midway between

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

and

North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

. U-105, of the German

Kriegsmarine The (, ) was the navy of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official military branch, branche ...

, commanded by George Schewe, fired two torpedoes which hit the ship in holds No. 4 and No. 5 sinking it in just over two minutes. At the time, ''Benvrackie'' was carrying 25 survivors from ''Lassell'' which had been torpedoed by U-107 on 30 April, picked up on 3 May. Eyton-Jones went down with the ship but later came to the surface and helped survivors to some wreckage. They managed to reach the only lifeboat to get away. Thirteen crew of ''Benvrackie'' and fifteen survivors from ''Lassell'' were lost. He took charge and rescued other survivors from the sea until there were 59 survivors on board. The lifeboat was only designed to carry 38 passengers. They spent 13 days at sea in the open lifeboat and sailed over 500 miles before being rescued on 26 May 1942 by the British hospital ship HMHS Oxfordshire and landed at Freetown. As Master of ''Benledi'' in 1942 he saw further action when on 5 April dive bombers of the

Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service The (IJNAS) was the air arm of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). The organization was responsible for the operation of naval aircraft and the conduct of aerial warfare in the Pacific War. The Japanese military acquired its first aircraft in ...

tried to sink the ship while she lay in harbour in Columbo,

British Ceylon British Ceylon (; ), officially British Settlements and Territories in the Island of Ceylon with its Dependencies from 1802 to 1833, then the Island of Ceylon and its Territories and Dependencies from 1833 to 1931 and finally the Island of Cey ...

. First, a number of dive bombers came over as ''Benledi''s guns opened fire on one of them. Then came a high level attack by several formations of seven planes each. The third formation came straight for ''Benledi'' dropping seven bombs at the ship. The first fell just outside the boom, the second hit and wrecked a nearby navy destroyer, the third struck the vessels poop, and the fourth hit the quay side. The ship was on fire and Eyton-Jones, knowing that the magazine, which was situated in the poop, contained enough explosives to blow the whole stern away, and that under the poop were 70 tonnes of 250 pound

incendiary bombs Incendiary weapons, incendiary devices, incendiary munitions, or incendiary bombs are weapons designed to start fires. They may destroy structures or sensitive equipment using fire, and sometimes operate as anti-personnel weaponry. Incendiarie ...

, ordered "Clear ship - everyone ashore". The crew managed to fight the fires and within 30 minutes the fire was under control. Before this incident ''Benledi'' had on a number of occasions been attacked by other Japanese aircraft as well as by the German

Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...

. During 1943 he was seconded to North America for nine months acting as planning and liaison officer for Ben Line and other shipping companies. In 1973, he was interviewed as part of the

Thames Television Thames Television, commonly simplified to just Thames, was a franchise holder for a region of the British ITV television network serving London and surrounding areas from 30 July 1968 until the night of 31 December 1992. Thames Television broa ...

documentary,

The World at War ''The World at War'' is a 26-episode British documentary television series that chronicles the events of the Second World War. Produced in 1973 at a cost of around £880,000 (), it was the most expensive factual series ever made at the time. ...

, where he recalled his involvement in the Battle of the Atlantic.

Honours and awards

Eyton-Jones received a number of honours and awards for his service during World War I and World War II. The most notable were the OBE, which he received from

King George VI George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of In ...

at Buckingham Palace on 3 February 1942, and the Lloyd's Medal for Bravery at Sea.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eyton-Jones, William 1894 births 1984 deaths British Merchant Navy personnel of World War II People from Ash, Dover District