Born in
Ramsgate, Kent, Drayson was educated at Chatham House School,
St. Lawrence College, Ramsgate, and
Downing College, Cambridge, arriving there in 1938 to read Modern Languages. At school he excelled at
field hockey,
cricket and middle-distance running. The
Second World War broke out when Drayson had been at Cambridge for a year. He joined the
Royal Navy as a rating, but was sent to take an officer training course at the newly established , then at
Hove. After joining the fleet he spent the whole war serving in the
motor torpedo boats of the home coastal forces. In October 1942, Drayson was the first lieutenant on MTB 236. His commanding officer had gone sick, so Drayson, with the rank of Acting Sub-Lieutenant, had temporary command of the boat when the flotilla was included in a force of MTBs and destroyers in an action off the French coast. The German auxiliary cruiser
Komet, escorted by some torpedo boats, was passing through the
English Channel to start her second commerce raiding cruise. The Allied force headed at speed for an interception point near
Cap de la Hague. 2 MTB flotillas were following 5 destroyers. Drayson was in the second flotilla and, as junior commanding officer, last in the line of MTBs as they crossed the Channel. In the very dark night of 13 October, the leading flotilla lost contact with the destroyers and then Drayson became separated from the rest of the MTBs as they halted for the flotilla commanders to discuss what they should do. He decided to continue independently directly to Cap de la Hague. He soon saw signs of an intense battle start between the Allied destroyers and the German convoy: star shells and tracer fire illuminated the scene. He decided to get to the shoreward side of the battle, hoping to find a target trying to escape the action. Instead, he saw
Komet, the main target, silhouetted by a starshell. MTB 236 was ahead of the German ship and moved in to attack at slow speed.
Komet was heavily engaged with the destroyers, firing astern and travelling at about 15 knots. Drayson fired his 2 torpedoes at a range of about 500 yards and turned away, crash starting the main engines and making smoke to provide some cover.
Komet switched her fire to the MTB, but both torpedoes hit just as this was becoming accurate. Moments later, there was an enormous secondary explosion as
Komet blew up and sank with all hands. The stern of MTB 236 was lifted out of the water by the explosion and the concussion put one engine out of action and damaged another. She limped home at reduced speed. Drayson was awarded the
Distinguished Service Cross for "great skill and bravery" and went on to command MTB 701. In 1943 Drayson married Rachel Jenkyns, a
WREN, and they had a son and two daughters. When the 16-year-old Branson left Stowe, Drayson told him, "Congratulations, Branson – I predict you will either go to prison or become a millionaire." Always a committed Christian, after retiring from Stowe in 1979, Drayson spent some five years as lay chaplain to his wartime colleague
Maurice Wood,
Bishop of Norwich, and spent six years as a member of the board of governors of Wood's former school,
Monkton Combe School, from 1979 to 1985. The Draysons settled at
Sandhurst, Kent where he took an active part in village life until his death on 15 October 2008 at the age of 89. ==Notes==