To mark the publication of Torpedoes, Tea and Medals this month, we asked author, Captain Chris O’Flaherty about his passion for boats, where the idea for the book came from, and what initially appealed to him about capturing the story of Derek ‘Jake’ Wright DSC** RNVR. Read on for the first instalment of Chris’s journey in discovering this little-known naval hero – a tea-trade trainee whose bravery and skill saw him become one of only 44 officers in the Second World War to receive a DSC with two Bars.
A love of small boats
A passion for the sea has been infused in me throughout my life and my career. My father was a shipwright. He built our first family boat with his own hands … a small 10-foot wooden sailing dinghy. At four years old I learnt to sail in that boat, with my love of sailing still very much alive some 50 years later.
In 1987 I joined the Royal Navy, wanting to serve in the finest maritime fleet in the world. Much of my training was conducted in some of the navy’s smallest ships, called minehunters. Having been introduced to this exclusive part of the Service, my first operational assignment was as the Navigating Officer of HMS Soberton – a Ton Class coastal minesweeper built in 1955.
As well as navigating visually and by radar around the British coast, in those days before the widespread fitting of the modern Global Positioning System (GPS) navigation aid, a core part of my trade was using the stars to guide my wooden warship to destinations as far apart as Gibraltar and Scotland.
I then qualified as a clearance diving officer. Serving in another small minewarfare ship (HMS Sandown) – this time made of plastic – I continued to sate my passion for seagoing duty in the Royal Navy’s smallest vessels. As my seagoing career progressed I latterly served in frigates and aircraft carriers, as well as with diving teams and with the small ships of allied navies.
Through researching and writing some of the navy’s battle tactics for these various small ships, squadrons and flotillas, I concurrently learnt about the heroic antics of my small-ship forebears in what was formerly called our Coastal Forces. In 2017, St Antony’s College in the University of Oxford elected me as their Hudson Fellow. This gave me the opportunity to research and write my first book – about the coastal forces hero whose generosity established the Fellowship funding my other studies. The more I learnt, the more my interest was piqued, and in 2020 I agreed to write another book about a different, but equally gallant, torpedo boat hero.
The genesis of a book
So where did the idea of a book come from? Over dinner a close friend asked if I had heard about the recent restoration of a beautiful wartime Motor Torpedo Boat (MTB). He had read my first book about a Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve hero who had served in His Majesty’s MTBs, and thus knew I had a passion for such wartime watercraft.
I was unaware of this restoration project, and by the end of that conversation I had somehow agreed to help research the history of the restored craft. By the end of the entire dinner, things had progressed dramatically and I appeared to have agreed to write a book!
A ‘textbook’ wartime hero
A few weeks of navigating through various archives then showed that HM MTB number 331 (the restored boat) had only a brief and relatively uneventful wartime service record. I duly called my friend, who was a Director of the charity leading the restoration.
I opened our conversation by telling him that I could write a pamphlet about his restored boat, rather than a full-length book … before recounting my really amazing discovery. Whilst MTB 331 was of only relatively minor wartime significance, her first Commanding Officer was a textbook wartime hero.
Derek Wright, known to his friends as ‘Jake’, retired in 1946 after only 7 years’ wartime service. In that period he had risen from Able Seaman to Commander, commanded seven Motor Torpedo and Motor Gun boats (including MTB 331), and he had been awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for gallantry in the face of the enemy at sea on three separate occasions.
I was immediately reminded of my offer to write a book (!), and by the end of this conversation I had secured a small grant with which to conduct the required research. This was the start of a fascinating two year journey which will culminate this month when the biography of the heroic ‘Jake’ Wright will be published. I am so pleased to have had this opportunity to shine a light on this brilliant, brave and dashing wartime sailor.
In the next installment of this blog, Chris reflects on the research process in writing the book.Torpedoes, Tea, and Medals: The Gallant Life of Derek ‘Jake’ Wright DSC** RNVR (9781636241401 Hardback £16.99) will be published by Casemate, February 2022.
About the author:
Captain Chris O’Flaherty is a serving Royal Navy warfare officer. Having qualified in 1992 as a diver and underwater bomb disposal officer, he has served on or near all seven continents. He has Commanded the Fleet Diving Squadron and the Royal Navy’s Maritime Warfare Centre, where he developed and published the modern Royal Navy’s battle-winning tactics. He holds the Joint Commander’s Commendation for his service in the Iraq theatre of operations, and the President of the United States awarded him US Legion of Merit for his delivery of a sequence of mission successes during the Houthi rebels’ naval mining campaign off Yemen.
In 2017, he was elected by St Antony’s College, University of Oxford, as their Hudson Research Fellow, and he is presently conducting International Relations research at the Defence Academy of the United Kingdom. He has previously published two books: Naval Minewarfare: Politics to Practicalities, and Crash Start (the biography of another coastal forces hero). All the royalties from all of his books are paid direct to charity.
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