Ian Berry obituary

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/07/ian-berry-obituary

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My father, Ian Berry, who has died aged 90, was a merchant seaman who braved the dangers of the convoys across the Atlantic during the second world war and spent a number of years working the shipping routes of south-east Asia before returning to Britain, where he became a pilot on the Thames and then at the port of Milford Haven.

Ian was born in New Alyth, near Perth in Scotland. His mother, Jane (nee Thomson) had been a tram conductor in Glasgow and his father, Jack, worked for the haulage firm ML Thomas. Ian began his sea career at the Navigation School in Dundee in 1940 before joining the Glasgow shipping company Gow, Harrison & Co as a cadet. In 1941 he worked on his first ship, an oil tanker that crossed the Atlantic under convoy, and thereafter went to the US and back on various merchant vessels, as well as sailing around south-east Asia and Australia, often under Royal Navy escort. Such were the dangers he faced that one of the ships on which he served, the tanker SS Valldemosa, was the only vessel of the Gow Harrison fleet to survive the conflict.

After the war Ian joined the Straits Steamship Company as a merchant seaman in Singapore. He worked on their main shipping routes along the coast and river ports of Malaysia, Borneo and through the Strait of Malacca, carrying cargo and passengers. This proved to be an influential period in his life, and broadened his interest in travel, exotic food and jazz piano.

In Singapore he met Stella Atkinson, from Birmingham, who was then working as a nurse tutor. After their marriage they moved back to the UK, settling in Kent, and Ian took up shore work in London as a pilot on the Thames for Trinity House, the shipping safety organisation. In 1965 they moved to South Wales, where Ian became a pilot at Milford Haven at a time when the port was rapidly expanding.

Following Stella’s death he took up new hobbies and interests, and was a regular at courses run by the University of the Third Age in Pembrokeshire. He had a debenture seat at the Torch theatre in Milford Haven, and he liked playing and watching golf. A versatile pianist, he also took up cycling.

Ian was particular about keeping in touch with people, acquiring an early word processor to help with that task, and he made regular trips to visit family and friends, with distance no barrier and Scotland always a highlight.

Only following his retirement did he apply for his war medals, and he thereafter proudly wore them at the Merchant Navy Day parade at Tower Hill in London each September.

Ian’s son, James, predeceased him in 2013. He is survived by a sister, Margaret, by two daughters, me and Sarah, and by two granddaughters, Martha and Nancy.