Thomas Benjamin Frederick Davis

Thomas Davis was born at Havre des Pas, St Helier, Jersey on 25 April 1867, the son of Thomas Leopold Davis, a fisherman and ship's carpenter, and Jemima Vickers. The Davis family lived at Havre des Pas, which in the 1860s had a strong boatbuilding industry. Davis was educated at St Luke's Elementary School. His parents struggled to get the twopence a week they had to pay as a contribution to his education. Davis did not go on to higher education but instead went to sea as a ship's boy aged 15 on the vessel Satellite, a 245-ton three-masted schooner owned by R & George Allix of Havre des Pas, Jersey but registered in Guernsey. ==Seafaring==

On his first voyage, the ship grounded in heavy weather on the Haisborough Sands just off the coast of Norfolk. In an attempt to save the ship's papers and valuables, Thomas Davis was put into the ship's skiff, but the painter broke and he was carried away from the vessel. Alone and drifting, he was able to stay afloat by constantly bailing. Meanwhile, the Satellite was eventually refloated and returned to Southampton with the news that Davis was missing, presumed drowned. He was saved when he was picked up some 19 to 36 hours later by a small Norwegian schooner, the Urda from Stavanger, who took him to the Isle of Wight. Once ashore in England he made his way to Southampton, and the captain of the Channel Islands' mailboat took him back to Jersey. He arrived just as his family were leaving to attend his memorial service at St Luke's Church, where he had been a member of the choir. It is reported that his mother fainted from the shock. Davis continued with his seagoing career, sailing as a seaman around the world and obtaining his Extra Master's ticket at the unusually young age of 25. He served in the Royal Naval Reserve between 1896 and 1899 and taught gunnery on The President. ==Fortune==

In 1899 aged 32 Davis moved to Cape Colony, firstly to East London where he took up a stevedoring post. He then moved to Port Elizabeth and finally settled in Durban taking over Brock and Company Stevedores. This formed the basis of his wealth as eventually he controlled all of the stevedoring business from Port Elizabeth to Dar-es-Salaam. He developed harbour installations in Durban and elsewhere in South Africa and ran at least one trading vessel the Modwena. She had been the private yacht of the sewing machine magnate Mortimer Singer but under the ownership of Davis was used for trading between Durban and Madagascar. Within 10 years of settling in South Africa, Davis had made his fortune. ==Yacht racing==

Davis continued to be interested in sailing after making his fortune. He owned several racing yachts, the most famous of which was the schooner Westward. Westward was built between 1909 and 1910 by Nathanael Herreshoff of the Herreschoff Manufacturing Company of Rhode Island for the New York industrialist Alexander Smith Cochran. She was constructed with an all-steel hull of LWL , designed and built for speed. She was purchased soon after completion by a syndicate of German businessmen who renamed her Hamburg. She was sold back into American ownership after the Great War and resumed her original name. Davis acquired her in 1924. Between 1925 and 1935, Davis raced the Westward in British and European waters against renowned opponents such as Sir Thomas J. Lipton's 23mR Shamrock (1908) and George V of the United Kingdom's HMY Britannia I (1893). The Westward was a familiar entry for Cowes Week during this time. Over the years Davis and King George V developed a fierce though friendly rivalry. In 1936, following the death of the King, Davis more or less gave up racing. He had a motor fitted in Westward and used her for cruising. Westward was laid up in Dartmouth for the duration of the Second World War. She was offered to three training schools after the war but no one could afford to repair and maintain her. When no suitable owner could be found for his beloved Westward, in accordance with his wishes, she was scuttled in the Hurd Deep in the English Channel, at a memorial service on 15 July 1947. ==Philanthropy==

Throughout his life Davis maintained links back to Jersey. He was a Patron of the St Helier Yacht Club and served as the Commodore of the Royal Channel Islands Yacht Club between 1937 and 1939. He also gave numerous gifts to the Island. ==Death==

He died in October 1942, in Durban, at the age of 75. He left one son, Glenham, and 2 daughters, Marguerite and Minnie. ==References==