"Big John" - My Obituary to John Lees by Jim Harrison

The following are my thoughts on "Big John", as I knew him and I would like them to be posted as my  personal obituary to John.

"Big John" in 1986 (Jim Harrison)

I was very sorry to hear of the death of John Lees, one of the Waverleys formidable characters, the world will be a lesser place for John not being in it.

I remember John  starting with WSN Co at the old Anderson Quay terminal in 1975  as part of a job creation scheme at that time. I grew up with John at my side and watching my every move - there was always the water and oil don't mix thing there, but that banter was part of the great Waverley aura, which gave the ship its character, but in turn, it was the people characters that made the ship. I sometimes felt that this man was there to make my life a misery, but I quickly realized that John was a mentor and taut me and many other young people that came through the Waverley, valuable lessons about being better persons, and how to work hard and get on with the job and life in general.

Many people never saw the true john Lees, they only saw the grumpy cigar smoking facade that so often was present on the engine room platform. I was privileged to have been on the receiving end of John's true personality. A kind and generous person, as was Sandra, they were both true people with a fantastic warmth. Tania, my wife,and I, were taken in by John & Sandra, when we had no place to live in 1985, and given a roof over our heads, we will always be for ever in their debt for that generosity, and their warmth. But over the years I somehow felt that I earned John's respect as a person,and as a sailor, possibly because of my voyages on "Westward Ho", but John gave me and many other youngsters a leg up on the journey through adolescence and on into adulthood.

I for one feel that the world has lost one of my Waverley mentor's that shaped my future. The world has lost one of life's true characters that you only come across once in a lifetime.

I too, like Stuart Mears, will be regailing my memories of "Big John" in the days and weeks to come, and once again john will no doubt put me through a mirriard of emotions, but mostly I'm sure I will be smiling and laughing.

The phrase that will stay with me for the rest of my days is "aye there's a good time coming son", as John would say to me on several occasions on our many pas sings during our days during the long winter months and during those long summer days at sea. And yes there is a good time comin.

Jim Harrison 

Tylorstown

March 2011

About Jim Harrison:-

"I became involved with Waverley in 1977 and worked on the ship through to 1989, working on Waverley & Balmoral starting off as a galley boy and then moving on to the deck as AB and taking command of "Westward HO" for the 80's -  I finished with Waverley in late 1989.
I spent much of my adolescent years working on the ship and being influenced by such characters as David Neill, John Lees, Kenny Blacklock, Steve Michelle, and Ken Angell to name but a few.
 So Waverley is very much ingrained in my make up and John helped shape my future, and I still look back on my "Waverley Years" with great fondness.
I hope that this gives you some of my background.
I feel that I, along with many of the above people did the groundwork for those now taking the Waverley & Balmoral into the 21st century."

John Lees - An Obituary

It was with great sadness that I learned this week that John Lees, Waverley’s’ Donkeyman of many years, passed away last week. John’s part in the story of the Waverley’s preservation era could fill a Dinosaur Down Below type book all by itself and I was lucky enough to work on the engine room when he was there.

He was a very big part of my early days on the ship. It would be fair to say that for me, gaining his approval on the ship, along with that of Ken Blacklock, as a “junior apprentice stoker’s mate 3^rd class”, was always the absolute pinnacle of achievement.

Whilst his public face on the ship was that of a gruff, no nonsense individual who did not suffer fools or nutters gladly, any one who knew him at all well very quickly came to realise that this was a fairly thin veneer indeed.

In writing this, if I were to try and come up with one word to some up John, it would be “kind”. Of course, I’m sure he would be horrified at such a dent in his image, but he always looked after us well, and if you put in the hours and the effort in the engine room then you got the nod of approval…quietly.

His knowledge of the workings of Waverley’s machinery was far greater than he would ever let on, but on many occasions, when it was all going wrong I’ve seen the engineer of the watch turn wide eyed with barely concealed panic to John and he would point them to some valve, or pipe or pump that would make everything ok. He was also perfectly adept at driving the three-legger, but only if he absolutely had too!  

Despite the sadness since hearing of his passing, I have found myself smiling a lot in the last couple of days as I’ve been remembering John and surely that is a measure of the man.

Some random memories:

On my first ever summer holiday spell of working in the engine room as I didn’t have any suitable gear with me on the first day such a boiler suit or safety boots, I went along only as a passenger. Word had obviously got around the ship as to my impending change of career. Most of my contemporaries seemed a bit in awe that I was going to give it a go in the engine room. However when I wandered up the port alleyway, John Lees and Kenny Angell wasted no time in hurling encouragement/intimidation/abuse in my direction. John exclaimed that must surely be off my head and Kenny just roared with laughter at my discomfort to the extent that he had to hang on to the golden levers to stop himself falling over.

John took great delight at blowing a good lungful of thick cigar smoke through the fan engine, in order to add a certain…something….to the air supply into the boiler room, to the outrage of the poor fireman down below.

He had an ability to stand at the step onto the engine room platform and chat to someone beside him in the alleyway but seemingly never take his eyes off “The Job”, talking to you, over his shoulder, so to speak.  

John would grab a quick breath of fresh air at the sponson door outside the souvenir shop, cigar firmly in position where, just by coincidence you understand, he could spend a wee bit of time chatting to his wife Sandra who was in the shop. If John was our mentor, Sandra was frequently our agony aunt. I only recently learned of her passing and I will miss her too.  They were a formidable team. 

I remember him single handedly carrying a full size bottle of oxygen from the gas axe set from the main deck, up to the paddle box steps, at speed,  to assist in the treatment of a passenger took gravely ill as we made our way up the Kyles of Bute one Saturday.

I rose to the dizzy heights of second engineer at one point for a week , and on my first day, the chief, Andy Steele handed over the watch to me and set off down the alleyway. From behind me came a deadpan voice, “Can ah get you a coffee then……..chief?” I turned to find John making his usual offer to the officer of the watch (me!) and Wee Davie beside him was scarcely able to contain his mirth that I was sailing as second!  It did seem completely surreal having sailed with these two characters so often, with me being “the boy”.

“Aye, thanks John, that’d be great.” I replied hoping that I had given the right response.

“Right then.” was all he said as he headed off for the mess room. But as he passed me on the control platform I got a wink. What relief! I was accepted, on some level at least. All this was okay somehow! Mind you I also got the feeling that with that wink he was also saying “Okay, but any airs and graces and you’re for it!”

I won’t say anything like “Finished With Engines” as he never let on that he had much time for all of that. Though “Finished with Engineers” would probably have got a laugh out of him!

John, you will be sadly missed; The Waveley has been and always will be a much poorer place without you.

"Smile John!! - Ah am smilin........."

Stuart Mears