“There’s a Japanese man coming, it’s probably revenge..would you just go away, I’m old; I don’t mind dying “
“I came back three hours later and they were on their third bottle of white wine..”
That’s one of many memories Leonie King has of her father, the late Commander Bill King, when interviewed by Wavelengths for the 50th anniversary of his return from sailing around the world solo in Galway Blazer II.
A newspaper article about Bill King and his Plymouth return in 1973 featuring Anita (left) and Leonie
King speaks about how her father was declared missing during the latter part of his voyage, and she also recalls the impact the second world war had on him.
She also remembers how her father was sure he was going to be killed, after he had been contacted by the son of one of Japanese submarine 1-166 crew who died when King’s submarine Telemachus sank it in 1944.
Akira Tsurukame, whose father perished on board 1-166, and Katja Boonstra-Blom, whose father died when the 1-166 sank the Dutch submarine K XVI, visited Bill King in 2004.
Together, they planted a crab apple tree in the grounds in memory of his guests' fathers.
Leonie King at the Telemachus memorial tree
As Afloat has reported here, Galway Bay Sailing Club’s commodore Johnny Shorten has worked with Leonie King on her father’s archive, and has a number of plans to ensure King, an “unsung hero”, is fully recognised.
Commander Bill King on his 100th birthday with his daughter Leonie (right) and grand-daughter Heather (left)
Listen to her interview on Wavelengths below
