Francis Chichester

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Sir Francis Chichester (17 September 1901 – 26 August 1972), aviator and sailor, was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for becoming the first person to sail single-handed around the world by the clipper route, and the fastest circumnavigator, in nine months and one day overall.

[edit] Early Biography

Chichester was born in Barnstaple, Devon, England, and suffered a miserable childhood as the myopic second son of an unloving Anglican clergyman, Reverend Charles Chichester, seventh son of Sir Arthur Chichester, 8th Baronet (see Chichester Baronets).^[1] His mother was Emily Annie, daughter of Samuel Page. He was sent to a residential boarding school at the age of 6, and attended Marlborough College as an adolescent during the first World War. At age 18, emigrated to New Zealand, where in ten years he built up a prosperous business in forestry, mining and property development, only to suffer severe losses in the Great Depression.

[edit] Maritime Biography

After becoming a pilot, he returned to England in 1929 to visit family and take delivery of a de Havilland Gipsy Moth aircraft, which he intended to fly to New Zealand, hoping to break Bert Hinkler’s record solo flight back to Australia en route. Mechanical problems meant the record eluded him; however, he completed the trip in 41 days. The aircraft was then shipped to New Zealand. Finding that he was unable to carry enough fuel to cross the Tasman Sea directly, he had his Gipsy Moth fitted with floats, borrowed from the New Zealand Permanent Air Force, and went on to make the first solo flight across the Tasman Sea from East to West (New Zealand - Australia.) He was the first aviator to land an aircraft at Norfolk Island and Lord Howe Island. Again, the trip was delayed: after his aircraft was severely damaged at Lord Howe, he had to rebuild it himself with the help of islanders.

Though the concept of "off-course navigation" is probably as old as navigation, Chichester was the first to utilize it in a methodical manner in an aircraft. (In off-course navigation the pilot deliberately flew to a point somewhat either to the left (or right) of where he wanted to go. He was required to take sun sights with a sextant. This was a difficult thing to do in a moving aircraft which the pilot was also required to actually fly at the same time. An accurate clock was also required along with the usual aircraft instrumentation of air speed indicator, and compass etc. After the sun sight was taken he then had to make calculations by long-hand. When he reached a point at which the sun angle was at a pre-calculated angle, the pilot then made a 90 degree turn to the left (or right as pre-calculated) and then flew along this line until the island was reached. The advantage of this method was that the effects of drift which could be either left or right from the take off point, and thus was unknowable as to which, would be eliminated.) The technique allowed him to find tiny islands in the Pacific. He was awarded the inaugural Amy Johnson Memorial Trophy for this trip. Chichester then decided to circumnavigate the world solo; he made it to Japan; but, on take-off from Katsuura Harbour Wakayama, he collided with an overhead cable, sustaining serious injuries.

Chichester enlisted at the outbreak of World War II, serving in the United Kingdom as a navigation expert. He wrote the navigation manual that allowed the pilots of single-handed fighter aircraft to navigate across Europe and back using kneeboard navigation similar to that which he used in the Pacific. At the end of the war, he stayed in the United Kingdom. He purchased 15,000 surplus Air Ministry maps, initially pasting them on boards and making jigsaw puzzles out of them; and later founded a successful map-making company.

In 1958, he was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. (This may have been a mis-diagnosis; Dr. David Lewis, a London physician who competed against Chichester in the first solo trans-Atlantic race, reviewed the case and called Chichester's abnormality a "lung abscess."^[2]) His wife-to-be Sheila put him on a strict vegetarian diet (now considered to be a macrobiotic diet) and his cancer went into remission.

In 1960, he entered and won the first single-handed transatlantic yacht race, which he had co-founded, in the yacht Gipsy Moth III. He came second in the second race four years later.

On 27 August 1966 he sailed his ketch Gipsy Moth IV from Plymouth, England and returned there after 226 days of sailing on 28 May 1967, having circumnavigated the globe, with one stop (in Sydney, Australia). By doing so, he became the first person to achieve a true circumnavigation of the world solo from West to East via the great capes. The voyage was also a race against the clock as Sir Francis wanted to better the typical times achieved by the fastest fully crewed clipper ships during the heyday of commercial sail in the 19th century, (the first recorded solo circumnavigation of the globe was achieved by Joshua Slocum in 1898 but it took him three years with numerous stops - Slocum also took up the harder challenge of sailing east to west, against the prevailing wind).

Norfolk Island two cent stamp commemorating Chichester's arrival in his Gypsy Moth in 1931.

Chichester was knighted for this achievement. For the ceremony, the Queen used the sword used by a predecessor of hers, Queen Elizabeth I, to knight the adventurer Sir Francis Drake (the first Englishman to circumnavigate the globe). He was also honoured by a 1/9 postage stamp in 1967, which showed him aboard Gipsy Moth IV, even though he was neither royal nor dead when the stamp was issued. Norfolk Island also issued a stamp, in 1981, commemorating the first landing of an aircraft on the Island, Chichester's Gypsy Moth "Mme Elijah", at Cascade Bay on 28 March 1931. Another stamp (14 cents) was issued by Norfolk Island at a later date showing Chichester's seaplane.

In 1970, Chichester attempted to sail 4,000 miles in 20 days, in Gipsy Moth V but failed by one day.

Francis Chichester died of cancer in Plymouth, Devon on 26 August 1972, and was buried in a small village church outside Barnstaple, called Shirwell.

Gipsy Moth IV was preserved alongside the Cutty Sark at Greenwich, until she required complete restoration. A campaign was launched in 2003 by Paul Gelder, editor of Yachting Monthly magazine, to sail the yacht around the world a second time on the 40th anniversary of Chichester's epic voyage and the 100th birthday of the magazine.

In November 2004 she was lifted out of Greenwich dry dock (which some had called the yacht's "grave") after being sold to the UK Sailing Academy in Cowes Isle of Wight, for a token £1 and a gin and tonic, said to be Chichester's favourite tipple. The UKSA, Yachting Monthly and the Maritime Trust were the three major project partners in the bold campaign to save the yacht. She was taken by road back to Camper & Nicholson, her original builders in Gosport, Portsmouth Harbour. On June 20 2005 she was relaunched after a £400,000 refit with money raised by donations from the public and equipment and services given by the British marine industry. In September 2005 she embarked on a 21-month educational round-the-world voyage with the Blue Water Round the World Rally, via the trade wind route and the Panama and Suez Canals. In spring 2006, she ran aground on an atoll in the South Pacific and after an extensive restoration in Auckland, the yacht was repaired and sailing again in June 2006. After being accompanied into Plymouth by a huge flotilla of boats to welcome them home, the Gipsy Moth IV docked at West Hoe Pier on 28 May 2007, as she did exactly 40 years ago, to complete her journey round the world. The full story of the yacht's restoration, re-launch and circumnavigation is told in a book, "Gipsy Moth IV: A Legend Sails Again", written in 2007 by project founder Paul Gelder, with forewords by Princess Anne, solo sailor Ellen MacArthur and Giles Chichester.

The English rock group Dire Straits pay tribute to the achievements of Sir Francis in their album track entitled "Single Handed Sailor", which is track No.8 (of 9) of their 1979 album, "Communique" ^[3]

[edit] Bibliography

• Observer's Books Nos 3-5 with sub-titles of Solo to Sydney (1932),Seaplane Solo (1933) and Ride the Wind (1936). These books cover the England - Sydney flight, the New Zealand - Australia flight, and Sydney - Japan flight respc.
• Astro-Navigation (1940)
• Dead Reckoning Navigation (with co-authors of WJD Allan and William Alexander) - Observer's Book ^[4]
• Maps, Charts and Navigation (with the same co-authors of Allen and Alexander - Observer's Book).
• Planisphere of Air Navigation Stars - Observer's Book
• The Spotter's Handbook WWII aviation identification. ^[5]
• Pinpoint the Bomber
• The Star Compass
• The Sun Compass^[6]
• Alone Across the Atlantic (1961) ^[7] Sailing over the Atlantic.
• Atlantic Adventure (1962) More Atlantic Sailing
• Alone Over the Tasman Sea (1945, 1966) originally published as "Seaplane Solo" (1933)
• The Lonely Sea and the Sky (1964) Autobiography
• Along The Clipper Way (1966 & 1967) (anthology)
• Gipsy Moth Circles the World (1967). England - Sydney - England solo voyage.
• How to Keep Fit (1969) Fitness
• The Romantic Challenge (1971) An attempt on a sailing record.

[edit] References

The song "Single Handed Sailor" by the popular British band Dire Straits is an ode to Sir Francis Chichester.

[edit] External links

• BBC story from 1967

• "Gipsy Moth IV" website
• Gipsy Moth Circles the World at The Open Critic