STAN HUGILL an illustrated talk by Chris Roche
My Friend Stan
Who was my friend Stan?
I first met Stan Hugill in November of 1972
when he and his boys Martin and Philip
sang at Teachers Folk in the New Kent
Road a whole day later I started looking for
his then out of print book Shanties from the
seven seas along the way I found his other
books and started to collect recordings of
the sea shanty as he had sung it.
Over the years I gained greater interest in
mercantile maritime history and the sea
shanty collected books recordings and took
aboard such an interest that I went to sea
myself in square rigged sailing ships.
Stan Hugill: came from a seafaring family he went to sea at an early age a young
man aged 16 he was wrecked on his first overseas voyage and while ashore in
New Zealand found he had a knack with languages he had a degree in oriental
languages Japanese and Mandarin sponsored by his shipping company Blue
Funnel, he could draw and paint, talk for hours and was something of a hypnotic
speaker. He hoboed across the Americas North and South and the Caribbean he
had to suddenly leave one port when the bombs fell he was there at several key
points in history wrecked in the last big square rigger the British had taken as a
POW WWII. Writer of 5 books including the seminal works `Shanties from the
Seven Seas` and `Sailor Town` while serving as Bosun at the Outward Bound
School Aberdovey. He trained boys at Gordonstoun school and sailed in the big
four Mast barque `Passat` rescued from a scrap yard, was discovered and
revered by British, American, French and Poles alike for his skill with song, history,
language, knowledge of the sea, he worked with National Geographic looking to
find Francis Drakes lead coffin and sea grave.
My friend Stan An illustrated talk and personal reminisce runs for one hour and a
half in story, song, sound clips and slides;
Contact: sailor@chrisroche.co.uk 020 8647 1396