875:, with himself as Chief Designer, having become, in 1964, an Associate of the RINA. He recruited as his directors Kenneth Bates, Michael C.B.Hurd and David G.M.Sanders and Kenneth Todd, while Dodie Walker in Sales was regarded as integral to an enterprise Rayner was determined should attract customers who cared as much about his boats' interior comfort and convenience as their sailing qualities, for which Rayner sought Lloyd's certification. Two skilled boatbuilders – affectionately esteemed by Rayner as 'the walrus' and 'the carpenter' – were recruited to do the vital job of building the pattern moulds basic to GRP production. GRP was still so recent that he had to be satisfied with a Lloyd's Series Production Certificate affirming that the 4½-ton Westerly 22 – the company's first design – had been built under Lloyd's supervision including inspections and tests of hull strength and the factory conditions under which the moulded fibre glass used in construction went through the process, key to its long term integrity, of curing. Knowing that GRP yachts had not been around long enough to arrive at a proper assessment by Lloyd's of their durability, Rayner added exacting standards of his own to his designs, explaining why, after 40 years, such boats are still trusted by their owners.
827:, and became a key player in the expanding field of affordable chine plywood yachts, brilliantly popularised by Robert Tucker's Mystic, Debutante and Silhouette. Such a vessel could navigate canals and shallow estuaries including short-cuts through swatchways, take the ground safely and 'look after her crew' in hard weather, close to and off shore. It was a specification aimed at the innovative concept of 'family sailing', creating, and responding to, the enthusiasm, pockets and holidays of a post-war generation unused to enjoying the sea as a place for recreation and adventure.
525:– the picture at the start of this article emphasising this is more biography than history. Yet a 10-year perspective, enabled Rayner in 1955, to weave his and his men's experiences into a larger account of the Battle of the Atlantic, recording, for example, a fleeting and enticing glimpse of the chief protagonist in a four-day sea battle that began with the sinking of Britain's finest warship and closed with the destruction of a German battleship that ended Hitler's use of large surface raiders against allied convoys. While escorting the homeward-bound convoy SC 31, on board
738:, south of Newbury in Berkshire, and gave his attention to farming, horse riding and writing. In 2006 the owner of their old home, Earlstone Manor Farm, recalls accounts of Denys and Elizabeth Rayner's children's "extraordinary and happy childhood here, and the huge generosity of the Rayners, who took in old shell-shocked warriors, German Jewish refugee children, and the unhappy son of a British fascist leader, who were all cared for, loved and given security, at a time when conditions were still very primitive here and the family themselves extremely deprived."
450:, sailing towards Scapa Flow. He writes of picking up a strong asdic signal north of the Humber on the UK east coast, a depth charging exercise and a pool of oil, and later he mentions "thinking" that his first DSC, announced on 1 January 1940, was "probably" for this action "off Flamborough Head". He was uncertain whether this involved a genuine sinking, writing of the greater "difficulty" of damaging the "pressure hull" of a "modern submarine". Later Rayner refers to an action on 22–23 May 1941 when, in HMS
815:
mainsail as compared to the
Bermudian main, prior to the wider use, with that rig, of masthead Genoas – headsails of greater area than the mainsail – which in Rayner's view, in 1962, was 'the herald of rigs to come' with 'great aerodynamic efficiency and with enormous lift!', and returning, in effect, "to the lateen-shaped loose-footed sails of the Mediterranean but with a taut forestay replacing the heavy lateen yard..." A small number of Westcoasters were later modified by the addition of a small
778:
123:"I had already packed my bags, set my affairs in order and seen to the laying up of my yacht" wrote Rayner of his actions four days before the outbreak of World War II. By 1939, partly as a result of a recognition by others of his gift for leadership and partly by insisting on specialising in navigation rather than gunnery, against standard advice to RNVR officers wishing advancement in the Royal Navy, Rayner qualified himself to command 14th Anti-Submarine Group comprising HMTs
927:
989:(a re-worked W22). Applying the husbandry, and inventiveness, that characterised his years as a professional sailor, Rayner applied design and techniques, including the crucial process of curing now recognised as so vital to enduring fibre glass construction, to products that sold themselves. In the recent words of one of his sons, "He was delighted when the butcher, the baker and candlestick maker arrived at the
495:, official historian of the war at sea, became a family friend in the 1950s, and, over a merry evening of food and drink in the Rayner household, succeeded in overcoming Rayner's inhibitions on the subject, that the latter put pen to paper to record his particular experiences of that gigantic campaign. Except that for Rayner the sea was "neither cruel nor kind", there are parallels between the war he describes in
677:, by C.C.Lynam, read in "the library of a midland county preparatory school" that "first started the sailing canker" though "vows then made to sail my own ship to Scotland had to wait twenty years for fruition." Starting with an 18' open boat, and progressing via a 16' half-decked day sailer to a small converted fishing yawl, followed by a converted ex-fishing boat and then the 14 ton Tredwen barge yacht
723:, sometimes with his wife – "E" – and sometimes with RNVR comrades, Dick Taudevin and W.H. Simcoe, writing meticulous logs of intricate exploration of sea lochs with the added excitement of swift and sometimes rough open water passages, including encounters with overfalls and squalls, entranced by the scenery of these complicated shores. These pleasures ceased abruptly with the start of the war.
377:– for the seafaring experience she brought to her operational work. It was to her and her husband Gordon that Rayner, in 1946, after a stint as temporary commander of a naval air station at Kirkistown near Cloughy on the east coast of Northern Ireland, sold his yacht, laid up in north Wales for the duration, and moved his household to the first of several farms in the English
831:
hull, on which the hard chine that had characterised plywood yachts including his
Westcoaster, was so softened as to make it almost invisible. Rayner's people did this, under his direction, by steaming ply and laminating thinner sheets to achieve a compound bend of the necessary thickness. Refining the twin ballast keels of the Westcoaster, Rayner gave the Corvette – called
923:, undoubtedly the most protracted and one of the most crucial of Britain's World War II campaigns, since it was about control of the nation's supply lines, Denys Rayner, who described himself, in his biographical account of the war in the Atlantic, as an 'amateur sailor', gave himself as much to the peace that followed, as he had to the war that won it.
115:(1955). At school Rayner, impressed that an uncle by marriage was an officer on "a real destroyer", sketched a "continuous border of destroyers" in the margins of his school books. In later school years came "an endless stream of model destroyers...which really floated and were fitted with systems of propulsion..."
225:; in May 1942 while heading for Karachi her boilers gave out as a result of constant high-speed work and lack of cleaning and she had to be towed the last few hundred yards to a berth in Bombay for refit. After some months in India, where he made a number of horseback treks, Rayner and his crew came home.
997:
Rayner's home was in West Kirby until 1944, after which the family moved south to Holt Farm, Hook, near
Basingstoke, Hampshire, from where he moved to Earlstone Manor Farm, Burghclere, moving again in mid-1963 to Hermitage Farm, Hermitage, both near Newbury in Berkshire. His last home, where he moved
822:
Bilge or twin keels, a concept for many more years unfamiliar in
America, allowed a boat to take the ground upright on a tripod comprising keels and a sturdy skeg, manoeuvre in shallow water, load and tow easily behind a family saloon, and be conveniently launched. Thus Rayner, developing a concept
368:
behind
Portsmouth Harbour. Here, overseeing radar guided plots from deep underground in a way that would have been impossible at the start of the campaign, Rayner applied his specialist experience to the deployment of a large force of anti-submarine warships in the closing months of the war. Rayner
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in the early 60s and put down deposits in cash. Boats at that time were produced by 12 men at 6 vessels per annum. With 12 men we built 50 a year. Their yachts cost £6,000. Ours were on a trailer for £1800." But if these small craft were swiftly made and so affordable, none left Rayner's factory
870:
Having founded Beacon Boats Co. Ltd. to make and sell
Westcoasters – about 60 altogether – and then the Corvette, Rayner experimented with a new enterprise making GRP sailing dinghies. From this temporary project he embarked on the factory manufacture of an ideal family sailing boat expanding, in
517:
writes of Rayner's authority to speak on his subject: "I know of no other officer, let alone one of the Royal Naval
Volunteer Reserve, who served continuously for more than five years in command of escort vessels; nor of any other who graduated from a trawler at the very beginning to a corvette,
887:, read "Welcome to the Caribbean and well done! I think this is a justified remark because if you do not get this letter you won't have done so well! I am so glad you have Susanna with you. I shall of course calm down anyone who gets jumpy because I have complete confidence in you and the boat."
830:
In 1961, Rayner's
Westcoaster was briefly followed by the rotund, though equally seaworthy, Corvette – a 5-ton sloop with full standing headroom. The problem he solved with this 'prototype' was to find a way of bending a marine-ply shell in two dimensions, creating a stronger and more attractive
490:
published by Kimber, reissued by the Naval
Institute Press (1999). He would have been the first to admit the difficulty of discerning the thread of his own experiences in a conflict that ran for the duration of World War II, involved the loss of 63,000 Allied sailors and airmen, 30,000 merchant
55:
or
Bermudian rigged twin keel Westerly 22 from which evolved similar "small ships" able to cross oceans while respecting the expectations, in terms of comfort, safety and cost, of a burgeoning family market keen to get to sea. Before his death in 1967, Rayner had founded, and via his pioneering
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rig, its short mast, compared to a Bermudian, making it easier to tow on a trailer, to lower and raise, for the bridges of inland waterways, as well as allowing a swift reef – by lowering the boom – in a squall. Rayner also wrote that he valued the greater 'lifting' quality of a gaff or gunter
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Westerly Marine Construction Ltd. grew to be Britain's biggest yacht building company, and during the 1970s, a leader in family yachts. When Rayner was overseeing the construction of his brilliant little Westerly 22, he strengthened his friendship with Jack Hargreaves, who, as an enthusiastic
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the Rayners were neighbours to the Roskills, and it was Captain S.W. Roskill who encouraged his neighbour to write down his recollections of the war. Rayner's eldest son recalls that, as a result, his father "started thinking about boats, the sea, and boat design all over again". Publishing
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20 years earlier. Similarly all the Westcoaster's running rigging came back to the cockpit making her easy to handle single-handed. He sailed and demonstrated the first of such yachts, painted a rich royal international blue – often called Oxford Blue – enthusing about its good looks, its
478:"which certainly survived the attack" adding that "there were lots of those attacks reported (often with seemingly very convincing evidence at the time) that failed to sink or even damage an U-boat. Since 1955 there have been loads of revisions of U-boat fates, almost to this day even."
805:, where Rayner had been torpedoed in 1944. Rayner gave the Westcoaster "sitting head room for tall men" – rare in yachts so small – while ingeniously camouflaging the reverse sheer needed for such generous accommodation by carrying the decks out to the sides of the boat as he had with
754:, Rayner "gradually morphed back to where he had always wanted to be – in yacht design". He built his younger son a dingy to row on a local lake. "When it was finished", says Paul Vyvyan, "I was too big for it." So his dad acquired a small yacht – a Mystic, sail number 2, designed by
22:
696:
Elected in March 1935 to the Royal Cruising Club – 'an association of yachtsmen who prefer navigation to racing and are full of passionate interests' (Arthur Ransome 1912) – Rayner set out, in summer 1937, to follow 'skipper' Lynam's wake to the Western Highlands. Lynam's
949:
shows many of the qualities Rayner sought for his Westerly 22 – a shipshape 'baggywrinkled' small craft for everyman moored close to palm trees overhanging a shallow Caribbean beach after an uneventful 29-day crossing of the Atlantic Ocean crewed by two student friends.
965:
Rayner writes: "In any reasonable weather it is the diminutive size of the yacht which makes long passages under sail such thrilling affairs, and one of the reasons why I, for one, find the smallest possible craft the most rewarding" as well, he added, as costing less.
384:
During a campaign that had lasted from 1939 to 1945, Rayner's youngest son, Vyvyan, reckoned (in April 2006) that his father took "as little as four or five weeks home leave in the whole period." After 24 years with the 'wavy navy' Rayner retired from the RNVR in 1949.
769:
In the late 1950s, a local manufacturer of plywood caravans asked Rayner to design a plywood dinghy to be offered with each caravan. As result of this collaboration Rayner started the Beacon Boat Company at a redundant turnery workshop in Donnington, a village on the
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in late 1964, was Quarry Farm, West Meon, Hants. He married Isabelle Elizabeth (née Board) in 1933. They had a daughter, Clare, born 1938, and two sons, Martin Drake born in 1934 and Paul Vyvyan born in 1948, who scattered his father's ashes off Gilkicker Point.
361:. Rayner nearly lost his ship on the long sandy spit leading to Magilligan Point before hand steering was connected. He writes that at this point "The candle was burned out". He sought three weeks leave of Max Horton who then posted him, in the months before
961:, Collins Nutshell Books (1962). Seacraft technologies, especially navigational aids, have been transformed since these books were written, yet they contain timeless wisdom about taking a small ship to sea and bringing her home – without fuss. In
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unfit for the sea, of which he wrote "neither cruel nor kind... Any apparent virtues it may have, and all its vices, are seen only in relation to the spirit of man who pits himself, in ships of his own building, against its insensate power."
111:, Rayner was disappointed to be beaten for drawing an "infernal" U-boat sinking device in a school geometry book. "Diagrammatically portrayed, this spoiled the page – I can see that now" wrote the adult Rayner in the preface of his book
595:– while his British captain, John Murrell, became an American played by Robert Mitchum with Curt Jürgens playing Rayner's U-boat skipper, Kapitän von Stolberg. Powell displays Rayner's book at the start of the trailer of
657:, an illustrated account of a millionaires' yacht race from New York to Cowes in December 1866. Between 1961 and 1963 Rayner also published books on sailing, safety at sea in small craft and starting motorboating.
51:. After intensive war service at sea, Rayner became a writer, a farmer, and a successful designer and builder of small sailing craft – his first being the Westcoaster; his most successful being the glass fibre
1676:
285:
Instead of taking "survivor's leave" after this experience, which had included being in the water as depth charges from a destroyer in pursuit of the U-boat exploded close by, Rayner, pressing Admiral
810:
affordability, its practicality for weekend "pottering" and fitness for deeper waters despite a draft of no more than 2'3" (70 cm). This design ensemble was topped by Rayner's preference for the
969:
Ben Rayner's greatest peacetime contribution lay in his approach to designing, building and selling such small craft. A fascination with making model destroyers at school evolved into the making of
839:– hydrofoil sectioned twin keels, flat on the outside and curved on the inside and very slightly toed in. As well as serving the same function as fin keels, the leeward moulded bilge keel used the
1815:
264:, before being given an Escort Group to operate in the Channel against E boats in preparation for D-Day. Just a day after taking station at Plymouth, on 20 February 1944, Rayner was with
945:
owned by Ann and Slade Penoyre) – sailed across the Atlantic by relatively inexperienced seafarers of the kind he dreamed of encouraging to navigate wisely in deep waters. The photo of
1825:
673:... if it were, it is poetic justice that I should meet her on my first cruise in my own designed ship in Scottish waters for it was her exploits as detailed in 'The Log of the
403:
of 29 December 1940, dated 1 January 1940, for the "hard and perilous task of sweeping the seas clear of enemy mines, and combating submarines" while commanding the trawler
155:
for whom Rayner selected skipper Lang – a Devon trawlerman he describes as knowing things "about the way of a ship which no one not trained in sail could have understood".
985:
to share with his youngest son, Rayner graduated via the one-off Corvette to the Westerly 22, to the Westerly 25, the Westerly 30, the Windrush (a re-worked W25), and the
871:
1963, to larger premises – temperature-and-humidity-controlled – as the firm of Westerly Marine Construction Ltd., at Hambledon Road, Waterlooville near Portsmouth on the
883:– W22 68 – departing the Solent for America. Rayner's letter, dated 14 December 1965, awaiting her young skipper, Hargreaves' stepson, at a poste restante in Bridgetown
242:
a year earlier) to be so promoted. Rayner returned to familiar ground, with his group operating in the North Atlantic on convoy escort duty. In June 1943 he was to lead
599:. Some of the actual experiences described in the novel and later transferred to film can be read in Rayner's low-key account of his encounter between corvettes and
151:– a 6 by 20 mile stretch of sea between Scotland and the Orkney Islands where a high spring tide can flow 8 knots against a westerly gale. His 'flag' was aboard HMT
1739:
61:
243:
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and surfaced to inspect the burning wreck. The U-boat dived. Rayner depth charged a strong asdic contact, saw oil on the surface, lost contact and guided HMS
486:
Having written features in the yachting press before the war, Rayner's career as an author really began in 1955 with a personal account of 'his' war, called
681:– burnt out on her moorings – Rayner was at last, in 1936, able try his hand at designing his own boat "after studying the 'How To' articles in the Y.M."
101:
40:
342:. On 10 November 1944 Rayner's group gained an asdic contact and in a swift well-executed manoeuvre attacked and sank a U-boat, later identified as
104:
as a part-time midshipman with time to pursue his interest in exploring the rocky coast of the Western Highlands in a small boat of his own design.
789:
Wartime advances in new bonding techniques had made plywood reliable even when constantly immersed in sea water. Using mahogany frames and the new
423:(VRD). On 25 May 1945 he was awarded a bar to his DSC "for courage, skill and perseverance... in successful operations against enemy submarines."
217:, for operations in the South Atlantic, before being dispatched to the Far East. After the Japanese invasion of Malaya, and the fall of Singapore,
907:
in 29 days. Peter Guinness, Rear-Commodore of the Royal Cruising Club, in awarding the RCC Challenge Cup, wrote of a winning cruise that ended in
537:, 'Are you reporting what I think I see?' and got back the reply, 'Better not – identification by no means certain. Might cause confusion. Gather
1562:
973:
in which for a few years he voyaged for pleasure – a pleasure which, after his long war service, he made available to thousands. Starting with
665:
Though his father was a keen 6-10 metre racing yachtsman, Rayner preferred the idea of cruising. On 6 June 1937, sailing his small boat out of
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north of Newbury, and applied all his enthusiasm and practicality to building and selling small family sailing boats of distinctive design.
394:
32:
742:
462:, with deeper depth charges, to the same target, both ships remaining in the area until dawn on 24 May 1941. In the back inside cover of
719:(RINA)) became an amateur yacht designer and experienced small boat sailor. Between 1937 and 1938 Rayner completed two short cruises in
1780:
76:
in a Georgian house, on the outskirts of London, to Francis (née Parker) and Arthur Rayner, a master electrical engineer, who became a
194:
embarked on convoy duties between different escort groups before being assigned to B-12 group, under Commander C D Howard-Johnston of
1795:
843:, to resist leeward drift as the boat heeled on a beat. Hargreaves' stepson with a companion, Chris Jameson, as her skipper, proved
521:
Mike Raymond of the Flower Class Corvette's Association reports a portrait of Rayner 'with pipe and beard' in the frontispiece of
1790:
1512:
716:
354:
533:, Rayner spotted a big ship on the horizon hurrying southward: "... she was hull down and difficult to identify. I made to
575:– the story of a prolonged duel between a U-boat and a British destroyer in September 1943. It was adapted in 1957 for an
1558:. Cree, Donald C.L. & Pinkney, Roger A.P., pp. 347–384, 1937 RCC Journal, London:Henderson & Spalding 1938
1547:. Cree, Donald C.L. & Pinkney, Roger A.P., pp. 306–315, 1937 RCC Journal, London:Henderson & Spalding 1938
518:
then to a small destroyer, and finally to command of a group of the new and greatly improved war-built escort vessels."
96:
kept Denys from entering the Royal Navy but not from pursuing a successful naval career. In October 1925, he joined HMS
1573:. Cree, Donald C.L. & Pinkney, Roger A.P., pp. 419–445, 1938 RCC Journal, London:Henderson & Spalding 1939
1805:
1785:
1775:
466:
Rayner's map of Western Approaches shows the cross-swords symbol of an engagement and the words "U-boat damaged by
941:
He died of cancer in January 1967 having seen his first two fibreglass designs – a Westerly 22 and a Westerly 25 (
470:
22.4.41". Many years later – 2006 – Gudmundur Helgason, researcher of the Battle of the Atlantic points out that
1810:
1800:
1770:
1707:
446:, had doubts even then, as he had about an earlier incident while in charge of 14th Anti-Submarine Group on HMT
374:
755:
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winds (September 1962), but her construction costs focused Rayner's attention on the emerging technology of
797:, Rayner marked his return to the sea by building a 20-foot hard chine bilge keel gunter-rigged sloop – the
1820:
435:
420:
36:
614:, including taking a torpedoed fuel tanker in tow, also informed a later novel about convoy escort duty,
801:– designed initially for a customer wishing to navigate the difficult waters and scarce harbours of the
766:– ostensibly for the boy, but he called it "our ship", making her easier to sail by adding a new stern.
1723:
900:
550:
443:
Rayner, though at the time given credit for sinking or damaging an unidentified U-boat on 22 May 1941'
315:
1703:
190:, the nickname 'Ben', which stayed with him for the rest of his life, was used as Rayner's call sign.
329:
864:
840:
365:, to a senior staff role with Channel Command, Portsmouth, in the tunnel complex of Fort Southwick
57:
1233:
571:
408:
343:
228:
Just after Christmas 1942, he was given the lead of an escort group, in command of the destroyer
669:, he records passing "a ship which from the lines of her hull I think to have been the original
1733:
1173:
920:
611:
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of his respect for one of his colleagues at the fort – First Officer Audrey Faith Parker, OBE,
269:
172:, ready but without a commander, used all his skills of persuasion to get the command himself.
48:
235:, becoming one of the first RNVR officers in the Royal Navy (along with Commander E N Wood of
1755:
1713:
641:(1958) Rayner wrote about a three-day ship-to-ship engagement in the Indian Ocean during the
505:
308:
177:
1718:
1539:
Rayner, D.A., Lieut. RNVR, "North East Coast of Ireland: Strangford Lough to Belfast Lough"
1213:
1193:
444:
1765:
1760:
290:
268:
off Trevose Head when she was torpedoed, with the loss of 90 of her crew, by the submarine
236:
727:
was laid up on chocks for the duration at a yard in Beaumaris, N.Wales, and sold in 1946.
8:
715:. Thus Rayner, before he was 30, (and according to a self-description in his file at the
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Nautical, 4th edition, 2006 (see especially the first 8 chapters between pp. 1–52)
1238:
1218:
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254:
229:
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85:
77:
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836:
802:
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642:
576:
514:
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366:
247:
108:
1500:
Parker, A.F., "Once around the land – an eventful trip in a Tubby Little Ship",
891:, crewed by Simon Baddeley and Sue Pulford, telegrammed news of her arrival at
509:
published at almost the same time as Rayner's book. In his editor's foreword to
824:
790:
771:
712:
399:
147:
patrolling the notoriously dangerous waters surrounding the main fleet base of
307:
Towards the end of 1944 he was appointed senior officer of a support group of
202:
operated with the group in the North Atlantic, before a refit in August 1941.
1749:
1529:
Hibbert, G. StJ., pp. 288–322, 1935 RCC Journal, London:C.F.Roworth 1936
856:
848:
454:, he engaged a U-boat on the surface after it had torpedoed the Dutch tanker
378:
144:
89:
777:
411:'for good services in action against enemy submarines' while commanding HMS
64:– up until the late 1980s, one of Britain's most successful yacht builders.
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1456:
978:
73:
899:
with the words "EASY 29 DAYS. SIMON". They had sailed 2900 miles from the
580:
426:
Rayner was credited with the sinking of one U-boat on 11 November 1944 –
358:
296:– "best-loved" of his wartime commands – joining B-4 Escort Group led by
275:
1690:
Bitter Ocean: The Dramatic Story of the Battle of the Atlantic 1939-1945
911:
United States on 17 April 1966 "in a small, or even very small, ship".
892:
860:
823:
pioneered in 1922 by a fellow member of the RCC, Arthur Balfour, later
811:
735:
731:
690:
686:
562:, on which Rayner had served as a midshipman for three months in 1932.
286:
148:
81:
52:
44:
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off southern Ireland on 11 November 1944 between pages 224 and 228 of
1079:
926:
666:
434:". In an escort group action the fatal depth charges were dropped by
301:
214:
93:
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730:
After the long war at sea Rayner moved with his family to a farm at
653:
in US editions of the novel), ). In 1966, with Alan Wykes, he wrote
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986:
904:
884:
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by taking her through France by river and canal and on through the
816:
556:
311:
210:
180:
21:
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362:
222:
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in February 1943, and also involves the fictional destroyer HMS
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872:
852:
708:
158:
In September 1940 Rayner, was appointed to command a corvette,
1816:
Recipients of the Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom)
491:
seamen and 43,000 U-boat sailors. It was only because Captain
357:, her steering broke in a northerly gale off the mouth of the
908:
759:
734:
near Basingstoke in Hampshire, and then to another farm near
278:. He was picked up with other survivors by the steam trawler
1679:
Archive research skills needed or visit and get assistance.
1677:
Royal Navy: Operational Records, Second World War 1939-1945
1464:
The Westerly Story – A History of the Company and the Boats
685:, a 4½ ton auxiliary gaff cutter, was built for him at the
107:
As an eight-year-old prep school boy, at the height of the
246:, an attempt to hunt and kill U-boats as they crossed the
198:. During the winter of 1940-41 and throughout the summer
1448:
1939 Royal Cruising Club Journal, London:C.F.Roworth 1940
758:
from C. E. Clark Boat Builders at Cornubia Yacht Yard at
701:
was a small clinker built yawl of his own design, as was
407:. On 26 September 1941 it was announced that he had been
289:
for "a destroyer with two funnels", was given command of
819:, with the cutter rig giving an even greater sail area.
1826:
Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War II
1444:, pp. 222–228, in D.C.L.Cree & R.A.R.Pinkney
981:
near Harwich and still sailing, and then the rebuilt
430:, commanded by Hinrich Mangels, "to pay me back for
1683:
Seedie's roll of naval honours and awards 1939-1959
1633:(Bosun books 14), Coles, Hart-Davis, De Graff 1963
953:Rayner's guidebooks for such adventurers include
879:populariser of "messing about in boats", filmed
1747:
1651:December 1963 by Bill Mison (pp. 308–309),
1525:. Cree, Donald C.L. & Pinkney, Roger A.P.,
1671:History of the Second World War: The War at Sea
499:and that of the fictional Commander Ericson in
1486:, a 22½ ft. Tabloid with 6 ft. Headroom,
1736:– Technical Information about Westerly Yachts
689:yard of the Enterprise Small Craft Company,
253:In October 1943 Rayner was given command of
183:and was, in Rayner's eyes, "quite perfect".
16:British naval officer and writer (1908–1967)
1742:Rayner's patent on mounting outboard motors
1666:, RINA Transactions and Annual Report, 1968
1493:Poland, P., "The Westerly Story 1963-1979"
165:, but finding her incomplete, and another,
1664:Twin Keel Yachts-Development over 45 Years
1532:Rayner, D.A., "Robinetta proves herself",
1182:(Supplement). 29 December 1939. p. 3.
919:Having led men and commanded ships in the
660:
1655:January 1964, 'Westerly 22–25 years on',
1584:Annapolis:U.S. Naval Institute Press 1999
529:in company with Commander Bostock of HMS
440:under Lieutenant R M Roberts, DSC, RNVR.
118:
60:designs, secured the future expansion of
43:(9 February 1908 – 4 January 1967) was a
1433:(7) pp. 9–30, London:RCC Press 1967
1242:(Supplement). 25 May 1945. p. 2711.
1232:
1212:
1192:
1172:
925:
776:
503:'s enormously successful post-war novel
250:, but this was ultimately unsuccessful.
20:
1748:
1513:Reflections on the Royal Cruising Club
1466:. Westerly Owners' Association. 2006
957:, Coles, Harrap, De Graff (1961) and
859:where she successfully weathered F10
717:Royal Institution of Naval Architects
1626:, London:Collins Nutshell Books 1962
314:– 30th Escort Group – in command of
102:Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR)
1550:Rayner, D.A., Lieut. RNVR, "Log of
1429:Baddeley, S., A Voyage to America,
895:on 5 January to Rayner at the 1966
13:
1578:Escort: The Battle of the Atlantic
1419:Escort: The Battle of the Atlantic
1319:Escort: The Battle of the Atlantic
1306:Escort: The Battle of the Atlantic
1293:Escort: The Battle of the Atlantic
1254:Escort: The Battle of the Atlantic
1202:. 26 September 1941. p. 5638.
1161:Escort: The Battle of the Atlantic
1148:Escort: The Battle of the Atlantic
1135:Escort: The Battle of the Atlantic
1122:Escort: The Battle of the Atlantic
1109:Escort: The Battle of the Atlantic
1067:Escort: The Battle of the Atlantic
1054:Escort: The Battle of the Atlantic
1041:Escort: The Battle of the Atlantic
1028:Escort: The Battle of the Atlantic
1015:Escort: The Battle of the Atlantic
711:, from where he sailed her to the
583:, in which the writer's destroyer
488:Escort: the Battle of the Atlantic
371:Escort: The Battle of the Atlantic
113:Escort: The Battle of the Atlantic
47:officer who fought throughout the
14:
1837:
1781:20th-century British male writers
1724:Images to supplement this article
1697:
1511:, 4 April 1912, pp. 502–503
260:, briefly joining B-5 EG, led by
1796:People educated at Repton School
1692:, Headline Book Publishing, 2006
1685:, Tisbury: Ripley Registers 1989
1619:, Southampton:Adlard Coles. 1961
62:Westerly Marine Construction Ltd
1643:Reviews of the Westerly 22 in
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785:with added bowsprit, circa 1964
693:, and launched on 10 May 1937.
555:which, on 24 May 1941 had sunk
1462:Easteal, B. & Poland, P.,
1222:. 23 March 1943. p. 1375.
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67:
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1791:Deaths from cancer in England
1636:Rayner, D.A., with Wykes, A,
1001:
835:by her owner the broadcaster
541:has the situation in hand.'"
274:commanded by Kapitänleutnant
1704:Works by Denys Arthur Rayner
1561:Rayner, D.A., Lieut. RNVR, ‘
1490:, Feb 1937, pp. 334–335
1471:Lynam, C.C., The Log of the
1408:du Plessis, H., 2006 4th ed.
610:Rayner's experiences in the
569:came Rayner's first novel –
549:were cruisers following the
421:Volunteer Reserve Decoration
7:
1729:Westerly Owners Association
1482:M.G. "A Saucy Little Tub",
634:commanded by John Murrell.
419:announced the award of the
395:Distinguished Service Cross
282:skippered by Victor Crisp.
10:
1842:
1640:, London:Peter Davies 1966
1603:The Small Spark of Courage
1536:, Nov 1937, pp. 17–22
1442:plans & specifications
901:Las Palmas de Gran Canaria
647:The Small Spark of Courage
80:moving with his family to
1714:Denys Rayner at uboat.net
1497:, Aug 2005 pp. 88–95
481:
100:, Mersey Division of the
72:Denys Rayner was born in
1806:People from Muswell Hill
1504:, Nov 1947, pp. 3–8
865:glass-reinforced plastic
645:; about tank warfare in
1786:British yacht designers
1776:Boat and ship designers
1431:1966 Roving Commissions
977:– based in 2006 on the
661:Designer of small boats
415:. On 23 March 1943 the
409:Mentioned in Despatches
92:between 1921 and 1924.
88:and sending his son to
1811:People from West Kirby
1801:People from Burghclere
1771:Battle of the Atlantic
1740:European Patent Office
1631:Starting Motor Boating
1580:. London:Kimber 1955,
1399:RCC Journal p.xi. 1967
938:
921:Battle of the Atlantic
786:
612:Battle of the Atlantic
565:In 1956, a year after
119:Battle of the Atlantic
49:Battle of the Atlantic
26:
1719:RNVR officers 1939-45
1669:Roskill, Capt S. W.,
1617:Safety in Small Craft
1612:, London:Collins 1960
1605:, London:Collins 1959
1598:, London:Collins 1958
1591:, London:Collins 1956
1377:Feb 1937, p. 334
963:Safety in Small Craft
955:Safety in Small Craft
929:
841:Bernoulli's principle
780:
397:was announced in the
24:
1638:The Great Yacht Race
1541:pilotage information
855:, returning via the
655:The Great Yacht Race
626:is set earlier than
244:Operation Rosegarden
25:Denys Rayner in 1943
1821:Royal Navy officers
1610:The Crippled Tanker
1475:1892–1904, London:
1436:Balfour, Hon. R.A.
1365:Rayner, p. 369
624:The Crippled Tanker
616:The Crippled Tanker
591:– in actuality USS
30:Denys Arthur Rayner
1624:Small Boat Sailing
1438:Bluebird of Thorne
1388:Small Boat Sailing
1239:The London Gazette
1219:The London Gazette
1199:The London Gazette
1179:The London Gazette
1088:hmscavalier.org.uk
959:Small Boat Sailing
943:Lonesome Traveller
939:
787:
501:Nicholas Monsarrat
322:Portchester Castle
209:was sent south to
27:
1662:Riverdale, Lord,
1647:14 January 1963,
1507:Ransome, Arthur,
437:Launceston Castle
353:was returning to
340:Kenilworth Castle
336:Launceston Castle
324:(later to 'play'
1833:
1657:Yachting Monthly
1649:Yachting Monthly
1534:Yachting Monthly
1502:Yachting Monthly
1488:Yachting Monthly
1453:Fibreglass Boats
1451:du Plessis, H.,
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643:Napoleonic Wars
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597:The Enemy Below
587:became the USS
572:The Enemy Below
515:Stephen Roskill
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1601:Rayner, D.A.,
1599:
1596:The Long Fight
1594:Rayner, D.A.,
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1338:. U-boat.net
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1273:. U-boat.net
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1527:assisted by
1473:Blue Dragon
1256:p. 221
1234:"No. 37098"
1214:"No. 35951"
1194:"No. 35289"
1174:"No. 34763"
1137:p. 230
1111:p. 242
1056:p. 113
947:Young Tiger
931:Young Tiger
915:Achievement
889:Young Tiger
881:Young Tiger
799:Westcoaster
750:, and then
699:Blue Dragon
671:Blue Dragon
622:in the US.
581:Dick Powell
389:Decorations
359:River Foyle
276:Gustav Poel
68:Early years
1750:Categories
1708:Faded Page
1390:p. 43
1308:p. 51
1043:p. 30
1030:p. 28
1017:p. 19
1002:References
893:Bridgetown
861:gale force
736:Burghclere
703:Robinetta
691:Birkenhead
687:Rock Ferry
593:Whitehurst
585:HMS Hecate
448:Loch Tulla
405:Loch Tulla
369:speaks in
293:Highlander
287:Max Horton
239:Atherstone
153:Loch Tulla
149:Scapa Flow
125:Loch Tulla
82:West Kirby
45:Royal Navy
1653:Yachtsman
1645:The Field
1582:reprinted
1565:Robinetta
1554:1937" in
1552:Robinetta
1484:Robinetta
1421:, preface
975:Robinetta
971:Robinetta
807:Robinetta
743:Earlstone
725:Robinetta
721:Robinetta
683:Robinetta
667:Loch Fyne
557:HMS
535:Churchill
531:Churchill
460:Churchill
393:Rayner's
312:corvettes
302:Gibraltar
298:Helmsdale
291:HMS
280:Lady Luck
255:HMS
237:HMS
230:HMS
215:Cape Town
167:HMS
160:HMS
94:Flat feet
1710:(Canada)
1417:Rayner,
1386:Rayner,
1317:Rayner,
1304:Rayner,
1291:Rayner,
1252:Rayner,
1159:Rayner,
1146:Rayner,
1133:Rayner,
1120:Rayner,
1107:Rayner,
1084:history"
1065:Rayner,
1052:Rayner,
1039:Rayner,
1026:Rayner,
1013:Rayner,
987:Nomad 22
905:Barbados
885:Barbados
817:bowsprit
783:Zephyros
552:Bismarck
355:her base
262:Havelock
211:Freetown
181:corvette
1563:Log of
1082:Warwick
867:(GRP).
762:called
567:Escort,
547:Norfolk
543:Suffolk
539:Suffolk
527:Verbena
468:Verbena
452:Verbena
432:Warwick
417:Gazette
413:Verbena
363:V-E Day
349:As the
300:on the
266:Warwick
257:Warwick
232:Shikari
223:Colombo
219:Verbena
213:, then
207:Verbena
200:Verbena
196:Malcolm
192:Verbena
188:Verbena
174:Verbena
169:Verbena
137:Brontes
84:on the
1269:U-1200
983:Orchid
935:Bequia
873:Solent
853:Athens
845:Danica
833:Danica
812:gunter
764:Orchid
748:Escort
709:Mersey
632:Hecate
605:Escort
601:U-1200
589:Haynes
523:Escort
511:Escort
497:Escort
482:Writer
464:Escort
428:U-1200
344:U-1200
162:Violet
129:Istria
98:Eaglet
53:gunter
1569:’ in
1519:Pearl
1342:6 May
1277:6 May
1124:p.198
1093:6 May
1080:"HMS
1069:p.174
909:Miami
760:Cowes
679:Pearl
651:Valor
472:Elusa
456:Elusa
304:run.
271:U-413
141:Davey
133:Regal
1567:1938
1479:1907
1344:2012
1334:U-93
1279:2012
1095:2012
937:1966
732:Hook
559:Hood
545:and
476:U-93
375:WRNS
338:and
139:and
41:RNVR
1706:at
1571:eds
1556:eds
1545:eds
1543:in
1523:eds
1521:in
1446:eds
933:at
903:to
851:to
741:At
579:by
334:),
328:in
186:On
58:GRP
37:VRD
1752::
1455:,
1440:,
1236:.
1216:.
1196:.
1176:.
1086:.
607:.
513:,
381:.
346:.
135:,
131:,
127:,
39:,
35:,
1346:.
1336:"
1332:"
1281:.
1271:"
1267:"
1097:.
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