James Plumpton joined the P&O liner company to become an officer on many of their early passenger steam liners and later rose to the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the Royal Navy Reserves taking part in the WW1 Gallipoli campaign on HMS Prince George battleship.

James retired from the R.N.R with the Rank of Commander in 1922 but his life on the ocean was far from over. In 1932 he sailed to Costa Rica on a fishing boat to search for treasure and later operated his own merchant ship in the West Indies. He later retired to Demerara, in Georgetown British Guiana.

James Plumpton's photo album contains 350 photos giving a snapshot of his life at sea from 1910 to 1915, including photo's from Royal Navy WW1 Battleships HMS Prince George (left) and HMS Indefatigable. (below)

While off work in the 2020 Covid lockdown, I researched some of the places, ships & people featured in the albums. Each picture tells a story about the friends and servicemen who my Great Grandfather James served with. It is a fascinating glimpse into those sailors lives in the Navy, particularly the Royal Navy operations in the Gallipoli Campaign during the first world war.

I have found it fascinating to piece together his career at sea and it has given me a greater understanding of his life. It is by no coincidence that my father also left Cullompton to sail around the world as a Merchant Navy Officer, no doubt inspired in part by his Mother's tales of his Grandfather's James' sea going adventures.

James' photos can be found in the Main Contents menu above, in the 1910, 1913 and 1915 pages. Or you can navigate from the album menu page here

In 1932, James made the newspapers during his retirement when he skippered the Trawler "BM273 Vigilant" from Brixham in Devon to Cocos Island - Costa Rica to search for Pirate Treasure.

The exploits of the treasure hunting expedition are told in his book 'Treasure Cruise'. The tale of the crew crossing the dangerous Atlantic Ocean in a Brixham fishing smack would alone make a good plot for a Hollywood movie!

He also hit the headlines In 1949 when his merchant ship the SS France went down in a storm and he was found alive after 5 days clinging to wreckage in shark infested waters. To my knowledge, his business partner and friend Frank Cooper from Yeovil in Somerset, was never found.

This website is intended to be of interest to my Father and other members of my family, now and in the future. This may also be of value to other people researching their own family who may have served on the same ships as James Plumpton or just anyone that is interested in WW1 history, Royal Navy, Sailing and Steam Ships and Treasure Hunting.

I have tried to organise his life in chronological order, and the Main Menu is best perused through from the top to the bottom. I take great pleasure in including the additional researched information which I have compiled together with all of his original album photo's for all to view and share, providing it is not for commercial gain and appropriate attribution is provided. (please ask first)

This website will always remain as 'work in progress', so if you have any information relating to anything contained on this site, comments or suggestions, please feel free to get in touch!

(email Charles: jamesplumpton.history@gmail.com)

If you would prefer to view all of the album photos in a slideshow format, I have now made a series of 4 Episodes on YouTube starting with Episode 1 here.