Nicky Boyle 1946 - 1997

Nicky with Rosemary Martin. Background - Dodie and Pug Wallis at Hill Farm.

Nicky (Lady Nichola) Boyle was a close friend throughout my teens and early 20s and I spent hours at her house, Marwell, having meals, playing tennis or after-dinner games, or just talking late into the night in the drawing-room surrounded by her mother's books*. The house was approached down a long drive and had an impressive front door flanked by columns on which I use to hang after ringing the doorbell, driving her dog, Oedipus, mad when he caught sight of me. Tennis was often played with her brother, Patrick Kelburn, as well as regulars such as Nick Duke and Johnnie Cooke. And indeed, although Nicky and I got on very well as friends, it was Nick who Nicky was keen on, although I don't think her love was ever requited.

Nicky Boyle (second from right) with me (top left), Mark Hatt-Cook, Belinda Wallis and Nick  Fry at a hunt ball c,1969. The photo was probably taken by Nick Duke. Photo from Belin Martin's album.

Regulars were Belin Wallis, who was a close friend of hers, Charlie Skipwith, Georgina Murison and Sandra and Terry, who rented a cottage on the estate and who usually joined in when they were there, and the Hellards who lived nearby. Nicky often spent time in London where she had friends such as Rosa Monkton. Her mother had a flat in Albany which came in useful after parties.  

I remember once going up to London with Nicky on the train when we drank a bottle of sherry between us (although whisky was her usual drink). Just as well Waterloo was a terminus!  She was also often a passenger in the Mini on Sunday nights when we drove up to London after watching 'The Forsyte Saga',

A point to point at which Nicky was riding. Left to right: Will Martin, Charlie Skipwith, Lucie Skipwith, Andrew Ward, Nick Duke, Herry and Prue

Her mother (Dorothea, Viscountess Kelburn - always known to us as Lady K - was a great favourite too, She was always welcoming and didn't seem to mind what hour we turned up and how long we stayed. There was usually a shepherd's pie to be had if we got hungry and there were some wonderful parties when we played after-dinner games, making full use of the many rooms and the back stairs.  Fairly glittery cocktail parties were also held, especially around Christmas time, when friends of Patrick's such as the Dufferin's would show up. Later his wife Isabel would be there too.

Sadly, I rather lost touch with Nicky in my late twenties after I got married. She had married Tom Carter in 1976 and they had a son, Mathew in 1978 and a daughter Ella, in 1986.

I was very shocked when in 1997 she suddenly died.

Nicky was a most interesting. person, quite intellectual like her mother, but not always happy. Her parents were divorced and I never heard any mention of her father. 

Nicky is commemorated in my garden with a pear tree.  

For all then photos of Nicky I can find, click here 

* I still feel guilty about a book (Vladimir Nabakov's 'Pale Fire') that I borrowed in about 1965 and never returned.   

Stockbridge Gardens Open for the Church 2020

Stockbridge Parish Magazine July 2020 

Stockbridge opens its gardens for the Church each year, with the east and west ends taking it in turns.  Tea can be taken on the lawn in front of the church.  The event, which is organised by David Barnes, raises substantial funds. In 2020 it was the turn of the east end to open their gardens.

Sadly, this year the gardens could not be opened to the public because of the virus restrictions, but everyone who's gardens should have been shown was happy to have them photographed, and some of the photos appeared in the July issue of the Parish Magazine.

A complete set of photos can be found here:

Becky Ferris - https://flic.kr/s/aHsmPiQDoj

Jill Ferris - https://flic.kr/s/aHsmPiWUiV

Tony and Carole Cullen - https://flic.kr/s/aHsmPiXaL3 

Hugh and Margaretha Northam - https://flic.kr/s/aHsmPiR85r

Briar Phillips and Mikey O’Neil - https://flic.kr/s/aHsmPjWj6R

Stephen and Karin Taylor - https://flic.kr/s/aHsmPjWtLs

Pamela Marples - https://flic.kr/s/aHsmPjWUxr

Neil and Sarah Romain - https://flic.kr/s/aHsmPosVZX 

Di Maxwell - https://flic.kr/s/aHsmPoy82q

Marjorie Rose - https://flic.kr/s/aHsmPoqx43 

Robin and Chrissie - https://flic.kr/s/aHsmPoA1V4 

Kim and Frances - https://www.flickr.com/gp/herry/i92LoN 

Herry Lawford - https://flic.kr/s/aHsmPoAHnr

Allotments - https://flic.kr/s/aHsmPouBHW 

 

Atlantic Empress collision with Aegean Captain 1979

Atlantic Empress

On 19th July 1979, the Atlantic Empress, a VLCC of 128,000 grt, fully laden with crude oil from Ras Tanura, was sailing at full speed northwards towards Beaumont, Texas, when she was in an almost head-on collision with the Aegean Captain, another fully laden VLCC sailing from Aruba to Singapore, 18 miles east of Tobago. The collision occurred in heavy rain and thick fog and the two ships did not sight each other until they were 600 yards apart*. Aegean Captain changed course, but it was too late; the two ships collided, with the Empress tearing a hole in the Captain's starboard bow. Large fires began on each ship which were soon beyond the control of the crews. On the Atlantic Empress 26 men died, and one on the Aegean Captain. The master of the Atlantic Empress jumped off the stern of the ship into the flaming sea and survived after spending almost two years in a hospital in Houston recovering from his burns. 

The Atlantic Empress eventually exploded and sank on 3rd August, having spilled 287,000 tons of oil into the sea, the largest spillage of oil from a ship ever recorded. The Aegean Captain spilled almost 10,000 tons of oil but was taken into Curacao where her remaining cargo was off-loaded. Salvors Smit International and Bugsier attempted to salve the Empress and managed to get a line onto her to tow her further away from land, but could not save her.** 

The huge pool of spilled oil threatened both Tobago and the Windward Islands and pollution equipment and defences were flown to the area and deployed, though to little effect. Very fortunately, however, the winds and currents carried the oil away from land and it was broken down by the sea and no pollution occurred. The Empress's remaining cargo solidified at the bottom of the ocean and similarly caused no pollution thereafter.

At the outset, I had appointed Richard Shaw, then of solicitors Elboune Mitchell (and soon after, Shaw & Croft) an experienced Admiralty lawyer, to act for the Empress, while my colleague John Jillings appointed Rob Wallis of Hill Dickinson to act for the Captain. A game then ensued to establish jurisdiction for the claims between the two ships, which were enormous - in excess of $100m, I appointed Alan Ballie and John Kimball of Healy & Baillie to act for the Empress in the United States as it was likely that jurisdiction would be founded there, given that the cargo on the Empress was owned by Mobil, who's claim, for $60m, was the largest. Mobil's cargo underwriters appointed Ralph Evers of Clyde & Co to act for them. A considerable legal battle then ensued, in which much turned on the judgment given in a celebrated collision case by Henry Brandon. 

Under US law, the 'Both to Blame' collision rule applied which gave cargo interests an almost automatic 50% of their claim, and so Mobil's claim was settled by the 'Empress' for $30m, which I arranged to be paid through Richard Shaw's fledgeling office, a transaction which he said 'kept his bank manager quiet for the rest of his career'.

Both sides were gearing up for a huge and expensive battle in court in the United States to deal with liability for the collision and the remaining claims, including the total loss of the Empress, when we managed to arrange for both parties to meet in our boardroom at International House and settle the case on 'private terms', saving many hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees.

Richard Shaw and Norman Baptist, who was the Empress's insurance and claims man in London, remained very good friends, and we used to hold an annual lunch to remember one of the largest and most significant cases we and the Club ever handled. Sadly, both Richard Shaw and Norman Baptist have now died. But the case remains in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest ever spillage of oil from a ship.

*A tropical rainstorm can be so heavy that it blanks out a ship's radar.       

**Under the terms of the standard Lloyd's Open Form Salvage Contract, the salvors agreed to perform their services on the basis of 'No cure; no pay' and so as the Empress had sunk, they were entitled to nothing. However, the Empress was entered in the UK P&I Club and the Directors were asked to make an ex-gratia payment to the salvors of $1m under the Club's Omnibus Rule, which they agreed to do. This manifestly unfair system was eventually modified through the work of Terence Coghlin, and payment to salvors for the protection of the environment was made possible with the addition of a SCOPIC clause to salvage contracts.