John (Jack) Gempton  (1890 - 1975)

John (Jack) Gempton (b.1890) was the oldest of 3 sons - James (Jim) Henry Gempton (b.1892) - William (Will) Joseph Gempton (b.1895) who were born, in Brixham, to John Gempton (b.1856) and Mary Sarah Stibbs Haliday (b.1856). All three boys were to learn their trade in the family's fishing business, leaving school at the age of 12 years to become apprentice fishermen.

During the 1930's, Jack Gempton was employed as a crew member of various "J" Class yachts - Shamrock V, Astra & Endeavour 1, owned by millionaires of the likes of Sir Thomas Lipton and Tommy Sopwith. The "J" Class yachts raced, during the season, in many regatta events around the shores of Britain and rose to the challenge of wealthy American yacht owners competing in the America's Cup Series. 

The following excerpts were taken from the book - The Salty Shore by John Leather - highlighting the exploits of Jack Gempton during the 1930's as he sailed on the "J" Class yachts, Shamrock V, Astra and Endeavour I.

                                                                                                                                                    Shamrock V - 1930 America's Cup Challenger

....... In 1929, Captain Heard was offered command of the Shamrock V, the last of Sir Thomas Lipton's green hulled challengers and the first British yacht built to the "J" class of the American universal rating rule. She was designed and built at Camper & Nicholson's at Gosport and commenced her season at Harwich.......In 1930, Shamrock V made a 24 day crossing from Brixham to New London, Connecticut. Lipton's steam yacht Erin escorted her and towed the challenger whenever conditions permitted..... sometimes the Shamrock lost touch with the Erin for days and was becalmed in mid ocean, with the crew trying to get her along with a bigheadsail and square sail set......At last they arrived in America and raced the morelightly rigged Enterprise sailed by amateur Harold Vanderbilt. Enterprise defeated the Shamrock in each of the seven races but Vanderbilt wrote of Captain Heard and his crew " In defeat lies the test of true sportsmanship and they have proved themselves quite the finest it has ever been our good fortune to race against"..... Shamrock V returned to England and, Sir Thomas Lipton dying soon afterwards, she was sold to Thomas Sopwith. 

                                                                                                                                                   Racing aboard the Yacht Astra during the 1930's

.......... By 1930 the composition of crews in the big racing yachts had changed, no longer did a skipper strive to keep most of his crew from his native village, or even the same district, but accepted men from other places provided they were smart hands. Brixham men had come into the big racing as hands when King George V requested that a proportion of Britannia's crew be drawn from that port, in those days of meagre employment and opportunity - and later a few from Looe were added. In the Astra, Captain Heard had a Brixham first mate, Jack Gempton, and hands from Itchen and Southampton in his crew, besides men from Tollesbury, the Colneand West Mersea. Good racing hands were beginning to be valued more than ever before and many owners were paying a £1 weekly retainer to their crew in winter.............at that time of economic depression, racing crews received £2 14s per week, as wages had fallen since the early 1920's and were further reduced by 10% during those years when anyone was fortunate to find employment...... Ted Heard contrived to get his men something extra for " special duties"...... Wages were supplemented with prize money and each hand received £1 for a win, 15 shillings for second place and 5 shillings for a start. They also had 2s 6d each racing day for "grub money".....at the commencement of each season the mate, Jack Gempton of Brixham, made out a list of duties for each man - a logical procedure followed on most large racing yachts for many years to ensure smart handling......they raced against Britannia, Shamrock V, Endeavour and the new Valsheda........ the tremendous power of the huge sails sometimes led to tragedy. In 1935 theAmerican "J" Class racing sloop Yankee visited England to race with the large class around the coast in the traditional series of regattas. In the opening regatta at Harwich, the spinnaker was raised on the Astra but went out of control in the strong wind. George Lewis, steward, tried to hold on to it but was thrown overboard and drowned...... When Thomas Sopwith had the Endeavour II built by Camper & Nicholson in 1936 to challenge for the America's Cup during the following season he had only the old Endeavour, Velsheda and Astra to race against. The Britannia had been scuttled, in accordance with the King's wishes, after his death, and Yankee hadreturned to America. The challenger tuned up in a background of depression amongst the big class but the 1937 challenge was perhaps the best organised that there had ever been.

                                                                                                                             Endeavour aiding Endeavour II - 1937 America's Cup Challenge

..... Captain Heard sailed aboard the Endeavour in 1937 against the Endeavour II in the tuning up races in American waters before the challenger raced for the America'sCup in September. The crew joined the Endeavour at Gosport and were drawn from many places then sending hands to racing yachts, including two from Brixham -First Mate Jack Gempton and stem headsman Harry German.....before being towed across the Atlantic by the motor yacht Viva.  Endeavour II was towed astern of the Belgian trawler, Jon. Endeavour twice lost contact with the Viva whilst being towed and sailed by herself until eventually being towed into Bristol USA by an American Coastguard cutter....... Captain Heard soon had the Endeavour and his crew ready for work in tuning-up the challenger and all hands were keen to show what the Endeavour could do against Endeavour II, racing against each other in the waters and conditions of the Cup course.......While Endeavour II was hauled out preparing, the Endeavour joined the New York Yacht Club cruise from Newport visiting some of the finest sailing waters of New England. The cruise included passage races against the American "J"'s Rainbow, Yankee and the defending Ranger which. on one unforgettable day, was beaten by the Endeavour..........Endeavour II lost all four races of the series, to the Ranger.

                                                                                                                                                                Endeavour - Missing presumed lost!

.....The homeward bound Endeavour again came into the headlines. In tow of the Viva, Endeavour left Newport, Rhode Island, on the afternoon of 12th September but 24 hours later the weather deteriorated bringing heavy seas. By 10pm the wind reached hurricane force and the 9inch hemp tow rope parted. For the next 12 hoursthe yacht lay with the mizzen set and riding to her sea anchor. The motion was extremely violent and wireless communication with the Viva broke down when seas broke the skylights of the after cabin and flooded the set. The Endeavour suffered no damage while hove to and by the following morning the weather had improved and she was able to get under way.

.....Meanwhile the Viva was searching anxiously and wirelessed the American Coastguard for assistance in her search. Cutters and seaplanes carried out a wide  sweep, without success, and anxiety rose for the Endeavour and her crew.....On the 15th September the Endeavour sighted a seaplane flying low in the distance but of course they were unaware of the dramatic fears for their safety. On 21st September the Endeavour's crew, listening to the wireless receiving set which was still working, heard a broadcast which said that the American Coastguard had called off their search and that the yacht was presumed to be lost..... The Endeavour continued to sail home and on the 27th September the yacht spoke to the British tanker Cheyenne, who reported their position to the authorities. The Viva returned  down the Solent to look for her wayward charge finding her off the Isle of Wight. The tow rope was passed for the haul up to Portsmouth Harbour to a tremendous welcome of cheers and ships' sirens as they moored off Gosport - a fuss that surprised her crew! After two weeks of work laying up the Endeavour, the crew were paid off 

....At the commencement of the 1938 season, yachting prospects looked bleak for the racing men. The big "J" Class would not fit out and never would again - though no one could have forseen that. In 1939, crews manned the 12 metre class boats which were racing in the WestCountry regattas a few days before the outbreak of war in September 1939. Within weeks many were serving afloat with the Royal Navy, others were fishing in the smacks, facing daily peril from mines and aircraft attack. Many of the racing yachts slumbered in the yards where they had been hastily laid up, never again to race in their pre-war classes.

Captain Edward Heard died in September 1947, respected as amongst the greatest yacht racing helmsmen.

List of J Class Yachts

                                                                                                                                        Year - Country -Yacht Name -  Builder - Length

1930 UK Shamrock V Camper & Nicholson 119ft

                                                                                                                       1930 USA Weetamoe Herreshoff Manufacturing Company 125ft

                                                                                                                                     1930 USA Yankee George Lawley & Son 126ft

                                                                                                                                     1930 USA Whirlwind George Lawley & Son 139ft

         1930 USA Enterprise Herreshoff Manufacturing Company 121ft

                                                                                                                                     1933 UK Velshelda Camper & Nicholson 127ft

                                                                                                                                     1934 UK Endeavour Camper & Nicholson 129ft

    1934 USA Rainbow Herreshoff Manufacturing Company 127ft

                                                                                                                                     1936 UK Endeavour II Camper & Nicholson 135ft

                                                                                                                                     1936 USA Ranger Bath Iron Works 135ft

1929

In 1929 Sir Thomas Lipton, owner of Lipton’s famous for his import ofLipton Tea from India, issued his fifth challenge to the Americans for theAmerica’s Cup. He commissioned the build of the first J Class Yachtwhich signified the start of a new era in design evolution and racing.On each occasion he challenged for the America’s Cup as a member ofthe Royal Ulster Yacht Club in Northern Ireland. RUYC are still involvedwith The Cup – presenting the Royal Ulster Cup to the Club of thewinning challenger. www.ruyc.co.uk.

                                                                                                                                                                                                  1930

The Universal Rule came into effect in 1930. The size of a yacht was determined (by waterline length) and this was shown as an alphabetical list. “J” signified yachts with a waterline length of between 75 to 87 feet. The addition of the new design Bermuda mast allowed the yachts to carry a huge sail plan. Nothing so large and ‘awesome’ had been built previously. The Americans had a distinct advantage over Britain in the 1930 America’s Cup. They had the money to build four J’s over Britain’s one, yet the British yacht, Shamrock V was a hot contender. She was designed by Nicholson and built at the family yard in 1930, and before she crossed the Atlantic to attend the Cup she had notched up more than 700 sea miles (1,296km), won 15 out of the 22 races she had entered and had been tweaked and tested to a high degree. In answer to Lipton’s challenge of 1929 the Americans designed four J-Class yachts as possible defenders. Enterprise, Whirlwind,Yankee and Weetamoe were launched within a month of each other; Weetamoe and Enterprise from the Herreshoff yard and Yankee and Whirlwind from Lawley & Son’s yard in Bristol. Whirlwind, the second J, was the most revolutionary of the four. Francis L Herreshoff had moved away from conventional yachts and designed a boat, which took the new rule to its extreme.Whirlwind combined many new ideas and Herreshoff experimented with hull shape and rig.  She was the longest of the early J’s at 86ft on the waterline and remained so until Ranger and Endeavour II were built in 1937. She was built of semi-composite construction (the other three American Js were built out of the highly expensive Tobin bronze), was double-ended and had a permanent backstay. Uffa Fox described her profile as: “Very pleasing to the eye, the stem sweeping down to the keel in a very sweet line, and to a man who, like myself, believes that a pointed stern is a logical ending for all vessels, her stern is a joy to behold.” He predicted, “If the Yacht Racing Rules govern well and wisely, we shall see Whirlwind racing 50 years hence. If they do not she will probably be cruising then.”

But Whirlwind met an early demise. Her building was delayed as she didn’t meet Lloyd’s A1 scantling rules and she wasn’t chosen to be the 1930s defender. She was often out-performed when close hauled, her steering gear making her difficult to steer. She was eventually scrapped along with Enterprise in 1935. However, her unusual double-headsail rig was later adopted by the rest of theJs. The third American J, Yankee, was the best all-rounder. At 84ft on the waterline and 125ft length overall, she was solidly made of  Tobin bronze and was extremely well balanced. Designed by FrankPaine, Yankee had an almost straight sheerline and easy lines. She was a powerful contender for defender, but not fine-tuned enoughto succeed. She did, however, take part in the 1934 America’s Cup trials and with alterations to her rig, to carry more sail, and bow, which was lengthened and made more of a V-shape, she then proved more successful, especially in light winds.

The fourth of the American J’s was Weetamoe, which was designed by Clinton Crane and was the narrowest of the early four. Despite claims that Yankee was the best all-rounder, Weetamoe is said tohave been the closest rival to Enterprise to be the Cup defender. Charles Nedwick, in Ian Dear’s book Enterprise to Endeavour, describes Weetamoe as having a profile “that is practically a  triangle, with a straight line from the after end of the waterline to the bottom of the keel and thence a line which is slightly convex, and then slightly concave to the forward end of the water line.” In an attempt to better performance and make her less tender, her profile below the water was radically altered in 1934 with a new contour and bulb keel. The alterations failed and not long afterwards were reversed. In common with the other J’s, she had about 43ft of overhang and her hull, Nicholson opined, “was the best of all theUS Js”.  When Shamrock V and Enterprise eventually met off Newport, Rhode Island, later that year, the two J’s were well matched in hull profile, but differed significantly in rig.  Enterprise’s rigging was lighter, she had the Park Avenue boom, which was so advantageous to windward, and had lots of winches on board. Shamrock V meanwhile, was under-winched and hard work to sail. She has since, however, proved her success in that she is still sailing today.

                                                                                                                                                                                               1933

The sixth J-Class yacht to be built, and the second built on British soil was Velsheda. She was the only J not built as a contender forthe America’s Cup. Her owner, WL Stephenson, who previously owned White Heather II, the 23-Metre converted to rate as a J-Class in 1930, had Velsheda built in steel in 1933 at the Camper & Nicholson yard. Velsheda was a great success. In 1935 she was significantly altered, her bow was snubbed around the water line and her stern improved. The following season she won the King’s Cup at Cowes Week.

                                                                                                                                                                                              1934

In 1934, Sopwith challenged for the America’s Cup. His challenger was Endeavour.  She was Charles Nicholson’s third J-Class designand he said of her “She will have quite a normal hull... because Ihave thought it right to suppress possible experimental form, whichwould be most interesting to try out, but which I have to leave to American designers.” He did, however, produce the most beautiful J-Class and her rig was innovative. Sopwith experimented with new running backstay strain gauges, which controlled the trim of the mast and used electronic windspeed and direction indicators. It has since been suggested that part of the reason for her failure in the Cup was due to all the gadgets onboard. She was matched 83ft 3in on the waterline against Rainbow’s 82ft. However, despite being thought to be the best challenger Britain has ever built, she did not win the Cup. Rainbow, which was considered the inferior boat, beat her by four races to two. In answer to Lipton’s challenge of 1929 the Americans designed four J-Class yachts as possible defenders. Enterprise, Whirlwind, Yankee and Weetamoe were launched within a month of each other; Weetamoe and Enterprise from the Herreshoff yard andYankee and Whirlwind from Lawley & Son’s yard in Bristol. Rainbow was designed by W Starling Burgess and launched in1934 from the Herreshoff yard where she was built in just 100 days.  The J stepped a pear-shaped duralumin mast, designed to take the strain of the double-headed jib – first used on Whirlwind – and she was originally rigged with a Park Avenue boom. This was later removed because it was considered too heavy.

                                                                                                                                                                                            1935

The UK Class was depressed with the death of King George V and scuttling of his yacht “Britannia” off the South of the Isle of Wight, in accordance with his will. Of the American Js, Yankee was the only one to sail in British  waters when she was bought by Gerald Lambert and crossed the Atlantic in 1935. She was scrapped in 1941. Enterprise and Whirlwind were both scrapped in America.

                                                                                                                                                                                            1937

1937 saw the building of the last two J’s on both sides of the Atlantic. Both Ranger and Endeavour II took the waterline length to its extreme, measuring 87ft LWL. Ranger, the American boat, was built at Bath Ironworks in Maine and designed jointly by W Starlin Burgess and Olin Stephens. It was a design combination, which produced the greatest J of the fleet – the ‘super J’ as she was later known. She was built, for the cost of the materials only, of flush riveted steel plating and soon after launching had an accident. The upper parts of her rod rigging which stayed her duralumin masts hook loose and her mast snapped “with a report like a cannon”. Ranger’s success on the water was widespread. Of 37 starts she won 35. Owner-skipper Harold Vanderbilt described her as being “slower to turn and to pick up speed, but (she) held her way longer,and was perfectly balanced on the wind. ” The challenger,Endeavour II, was designed by Nicholson again and built at theC&N yard. She too was steel, but flush-plated above and below the water line. Sopwith towed her and Endeavour, plus an entourage of100, to America where he worked on tuning her rig. Sadly, Ranger saw off the competition, easily winning four races, and dashing British hopes.

Although they became recognised as the most beautiful yacht design  in the world, only 10 J Class yachts were ever built – 6 in the USA and 4 in the UK. Most of these competed in trials for theAmerica’s Cup, or competed in the Cup itself. Several existing largeBritish yachts, ‘Astra’, ‘Candida’, ‘White Heather II’ and ‘Britannia’,the King’s yacht, were all converted to comply with the rule andraced alongside the J’s.

After the victory of Ranger over Endeavour II, Vanderbilt wondered whether the boat was so much faster than the competition that it might kill the class. History would show this was not the case as analysis of the Holm design shows that it would likely have been faster than Ranger. 1937 marked the end of an era – it was the last America’s Cup contest for 21 years and marked the end of Big Yacht racing. Shamrock V was sold to Mario Crespi, the Italian Senator and publisher, who converted her to a ketch rig and renamed her ‘Quadrifoglio’, with a literal translation giving her authentic name of ‘4 leaves’ in Italian. This was in accordance with an Italian law, which forbade foreign names. Weetamoe was scrapped in this year, while at the end of the season Ranger was laid up, prior to being scrapped in 1941.

                                                                                                                                        HANDLING THE J CLASS YACHTS IN THE 1930’s

The Skippers had to be experienced in racing and their skill on the race circuit became a matter of pride. These mighty craft had no engines and they had to be handled with great precision to get into and out of ports. Often their experience came from sailing all types of small craft, including fishing boats, during the winter months, when the J Class yachts were laid up. The permanent racing crew in the early days was probably around 16 men though this may have been augmented to around 30 for racing. When not required for sail changes, spare crew were often moved to below decks. With the incredible loads on the rigging and systems it was a constant concern that J Class masts could collapse in winds abovea Force 3. Sailing small boats in often inhospitable waters gave them the skills to manage their J Class yachts. The same is true today. Skippers have to deliver their yachts across Oceans, and compete around the race course, using their skills and all the technical advantages that are available today.

The Torbay Lifeboat.

In 1928, Jack Gempton  (pictured below)was a crew member of the Torbay Lifeboat - Alfred & Clara Heath - see separate section on "The Torbay Lifeboat".