Mervyn John ‘Jack’ Gaston: 1941-2019
Following the recent passing of MJ’s former Tugs and Towing correspondent we take a more detailed look back at the life of this key contributor to both the magazine and the industry as a whole.
Mervyn was a qualified engineer and worked for many years for the Ministry of Defence first in the workshop and then authoring technical manuals and testing equipment at Fort Halstead and Woolwich Arsenal.
Mervyn, more often known as Jack by tug crews, owners, and other tug enthusiasts spent much of his spare time pursuing his passion for photographing tugs and writing about the towage industry, with his first tugs article being published in 1965. He wrote his first book, European Tug Fleets in 1975. He also wrote regularly for various magazines including; Lloyds List, Sea Breezes, Ships Monthly and Maritime Journal. He wrote some major books on the subject including Tugs & Towing, Tugs Today and two editions of The Tug Book.
Jack was also a professional photographer, for magazines, tug firms, the coastguard and his own books/articles, working as an advisor and photographic supporter to the industry. He was a regular attendee and also often a speaker at industry shows such as Seawork, Tugnology and ITS, and was awarded the Seawork Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014 for services to the commercial marine industry.
Andrew Webster CEO of Mercator Media (Organiser of Seawork and Publisher of Maritime Journal) said: “I would take a long call from Jack about once every six weeks or so. He just wanted to check he was doing a good job (as if in doubt!) and pass on thoughts and ideas. His passion for tugs of all sorts gave him unique access to vessels, builders and owners, just because they wanted to show him what they were doing. He had their respect and interest, and you can’t ask for much more.”
In his spare time Jack was also an accomplished model boat builder. He built and sailed radio-controlled model tugs for his own pleasure and also involved his grandchildren in his hobby – which even included making a remote controlled model duck nicknamed Desmond. He was also a founder member of the South East Tug Preservation Society. (owners of The Kent and The Fearnought), based in Chatham Historic Dockyard.
Over the past few years he experienced poorer health following a number of health issues, and this led to him reducing both his tug related travels and writing. His last column for Maritime Journal was in 2014 but he retained a keen interest in all things tug related, including reporting from Tugnology for MJ in May 2015.
For Jack’s thanksgiving service the family has respectfully requested no floral tributes. However if you would like to make a donation to the Royal National Lifeboat Institute (RNLI) in his memory you can do so via a justgiving page set up by his widow Ann. He was a keen supporter of the RNLI, according to Ann, ‘because he always said you never know when you may need them!’.
