THE LIFE OF BERNARD HOSKING 1947 – 1974
Bernard Robin Hosking was the second child born to Frank & Joyce on a cold, wintery 26th February 1947 at their farm home in Berkhamsted. A brother to Brian. That winter was notably harsh with the snow & cold temperatures causing extreme difficulties across the country, but one little new-born was kept as warm as toast in his pram in the porch causing the mid-wife to have ‘kittens’ when she visited but he was perfectly well & that is how he lived the rest of his life – staying well & fit.
The family moved to near South Molton, Devon where the boys were joined by brother Terry. Another move brought them to Roddimore Farm, near Great Horwood. Then when Christine was on the way they looked for a more suitable home & were offered a new build, 22 Mursley Road, Little Horwood in 1950 & Bernard’s Father worked for Charlie Randall at Home Farm. After Christine, Sheila came along, followed by Dennis & the family was complete – it was always going to be six children.
The first school for Bernard was the village infant school. An ideal situation as he could walk or run there & go home for lunch & then often back to home after via The Spinney & Wood End. He loved the outdoors , climbing the trees & was interested in every aspect of wildlife, country life & indeed, life. He was a mischievous (but never harmful or hurtful), spirited, honest little boy with a cheeky grin & a well-mannered disposition, & keen to explore & test things out. One playtime he climbed up the big sycamore tree at the playground entrance! After school & holidays he was outside as much as possible often with his friend MH.
One Sunday morning when he was about ten, he cycled to Chapel where his brothers & sisters were waiting for Mr. Marriott to arrive for morning Sunday School. They were looking to see what fish & insects were in the brook. There were no railings at that time. So, Bernard had the idea to put Dennis (about four years old) on his shoulders & cycle round in circles daring to get nearer & nearer to the edge until they went in! No Sunday School for either of them that day.
Bernard also attended afternoon Church Sunday School, was a member of the choir from quite an early age & also learnt to bell ring. He very much enjoyed this hobby & studied it a lot. He used to write out different methods to understand it better. He rang for services, weddings & any other occasions. When he got a bit older, if there was a problem with the bells he would be first up the tower to see what the problem was & help if he could.
He enjoyed reading anything but particularly adventure & re-read Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea & Around the World in Eighty Days several times.
He moved on to Winslow Secondary School for two years, where he was well liked, before transferring to Bletchley Grammar school. Leather satchel on back & cycling as fast as he could to Swanbourne station to get the train to Bletchley. He settled in well & the sport there was very important to him. Rugby, tennis & cricket were his favourite games & he played rugby for the school. He also played for Bletchley Rugby Club & cricket for Little Horwood.
Bernard was a good student at Bletchley. His school reports show he was ‘first’ in his class every term. He was particularly strong in English & many of his writings involved the outdoors, including his local adventures, wildlife & the sea. The following is an extract of one of the pieces he wrote at fifteen – ‘I cannot think of a more attractive occupation than that of a bush ranger in one of the National Games Parks of Africa. Combined in that job there is danger, adventure, an active outdoor life and a chance to train body and brain to be alert and quick. There is also hard work.’
After successful ‘O’ Levels results he entered sixth form to study pure maths, physics & chemistry. His form tutor in the Easter term report commented ‘ Bernard has considerable powers of leadership and is undoubtedly an asset to the Form.’ Sport continued to be of great importance to him. Indeed, Summer ’64 report for physical education reads ‘Excellent progress, Bernard continues to seize every sporting facility available to him.’ He also did some acting at school at this time, notably having a part in T. S. Elliot’s ‘Murder in the Cathedral’. For years there was a newspaper photograph cutting of him in this play on the noticeboard in the ringing room.
Bernard walked the fields & woods around Little Horwood noticing everything whether it be animals’ reactions, orphaned squirrels which he took home to nurture or the owl he found with a broken leg. He splinted that with matchsticks & looked after it in one of the outbuildings, letting it out after a couple of weeks or so, to see if it could take off. It came back for a while then one early evening just flew off for good, so a good result achieved.
When he was about sixteen, he went off on his own adventure albeit with a friend from school. He disappeared one day taking a backpack & ‘phoned home much later to tell his Mother he was in Scotland. She probably had an idea he was up to something. However, it was a test to himself & friend to see how far they could get & how they managed. It may be that that was the defining moment in his mind that one day he would go off to explore & seek further adventure.
On leaving school he worked for Charlie & John Grainge enjoying every aspect of farming life, something which ran in his family.
He was very keen on personal fitness & probably unbeknown to anyone seeing him, he would run for miles with a backpack full of bricks for perseverance & a sense of achievement. He also trained with a set of weights at home. He was very strong. He continued to play rugby & cricket for the local teams mentioned & wherever he went later on he sought out where he could play, be it in the Leicester area & for the Army.
After some time working for The Grainges, he went to Brooksby Agricultural College, Melton Mowbray. Then, possibly a year later he decided that was not for him despite his excellent results & the plea from his tutors to continue the course. He went back to work for The Grainges until he was accepted to join The Parachute Regiment in 1971, passing out in 1972 & was totally committed to it. He was a private in 2 Para. He served three tours of duty in Northern Ireland. He did come home when possible & usually coincided that to play rugby for Bletchley, at one time having to get back to Aldershot with stitches on one ear after having it bitten!
Then in late 1972, he saw a notice from Chay Blyth (now Sir), ex paratrooper, to apply to join him as part of the crew on a new adventure sailing round the world in the first Whitbread Round the World Yacht Race which would depart in September 1973. The crew would be all paratroopers. Bernard, along with over three hundred others applied. The list was gradually whittled down to twenty men. There were very rigorous health & stamina tests & one of those was to see how the prospective crew could cope in a confined space & with themselves as the only company. Chay had a cottage somewhere in Roxburghshire & decided that would be the perfect place for this as it was quite remote – the nearest house was three miles away. The men had their own very small space measuring one yard square in which to keep the few belongings they were allowed. This would be their own space onboard the boat. It would have been ideal for Bernard. Dedicated to the task in hand on any occasion, quiet, studious & quite happy to be on his own. He joined in on the side lines, never outwardly expressing his feelings. Chay selected just sixteen of the men after an intensive two week stay at the cottage.
However, none of the men knew if they would be definitely selected until the set off day itself so Bernard typically gave his all in to doing what was expected & beyond.
The yacht was provided by the philanthropist, the late Jack Hayward (later Sir) & it was built in Sandwich, Kent. The name Great Britain 11 (GB 11) was suggested by Jack. The potential crew, however, were very much involved in the building of it, giving up all their leave & free time. During that time Bernard made it home for the wedding of his sister Sheila to David Goodger at St. Nicholas Church. He rang the bells for the occasion. Sadly, that was the last time he got home & also sadly he had missed Terry’s wedding & then Christine’s in the same year. Princess Anne launched the yacht at Ramsgate Harbour in May.
In August, GB 11 sailed to Portsmouth from where the race would start on 8th September. Sheila, David & an Aunt went to see him & GB 11 two days before. He was quiet & deep in thought as they dashed around Portsmouth getting the last essential shopping, checking the time frequently as he could not afford to be away from the yacht a second more than necessary, as he said there was still much to do.
So, on Saturday 8th September, Bernard was a crew member on GB 11 & his role was foredeck hand. His Mother, Father & brother Brian were on a boat seeing him & GB 11 off on this amazing adventure – the last time they would see him in person.
The first leg to Cape Town. The crew were not experienced at ocean sailing but everything went fairly well for them albeit, of course, with many challenges. In Chay’s book, ‘Theirs is the Glory’ he mentions Bernard – ‘ “ My next log entry, for Thursday September 20th, has a sad and prophetic ring about it. Bernie was up to his heroics again today. Instead of winding the spinnaker in to get a heavy sheet on it, Bernie went out to the clew by being hoisted up in the Bosun’s Chair and then swinging out. At between 10 and 12 knots that is some feat – you would never have got me to do it.” ‘ In 11 October log, another mention of Bernard. ‘ “ Bernie had gone forward to prepare for the spinnaker to come down and the foreguy or the pole hit him and knocked him over the bow. I cried out “He’s in the water.” ‘ After very quick action, engine on, searchlight on, course made to search for him. Then they heard Bernard call out & the searchlight picked him out. A line was thrown which he grabbed & then was lifted out of the water. ‘ “Are you all right, Bernie?” Chay asked. “The water’s cold.” was his only reply. He had been away from the yacht for seven minutes.” ’ He was no more than bruised, along with his sense of pride too, one would imagine. GB 11 arrived in Cape Town on 31 October in fairly strong winds & took third place.
2nd leg to Sydney, 8 November. The crew were down to eleven as one member had to return home for personal reasons. Bernard became a helmsman, something he would have been really chuffed about. They arrived in second place on 7 December. The crew had plenty of work on to do on the boat but enjoyed the welcome & had some time to join the parties.
3rd leg to Rio de Janeiro, 30 December. After a ‘different’ Christmas in Sydney GB 11 left with ten men after the crew member who had broken his arm on the previous leg was advised not to continue. Poor weather caused problems & difficulties with sails & equipment.
6 January. A reasonable start to the day & the crew were in good spirits. Suddenly, there was a call ‘Man Overboard’. It was Bernard. He had been trying to release a sail tie from a hank when it suddenly came away & he lost his balance & fell overboard. With no sign of or sound from him, after two hours the search was abandoned. The water was too cold for anyone to survive. Chay wrote in his book – ‘ “ Bernie was dead, drowned at sea. Only hours ago he had been with us on deck, smiling quietly at the jokes but never offering the cutting comment himself, content with his life on the sea and with his friends. He used his tremendous strength to make any task seem simple and he above all the others had shown a natural aptitude for sailing that in time would have turned him into an outstanding seaman. Given time Bernie would have been in demand as one of the best ocean crewmen in the game, but sadly Bernie had not been given time.” ‘
BERNIE HOSKING LOST OVERBOARD 6TH JANUARY 21.40 GMT….POSITION 52degS 174degW…SEARCH NOW ABANDONED…PLEASE INFORM NEXT OF KIN AND RACE CONTROL….BLYTH
Chay flew home between the third & fourth legs. He visited Bernard’s parents.
On 3 February, a memorial service was held at St. Nicholas Church, Little Horwood during which Capt. Brian Daniels talked about Bernard & the experiences on the first leg (he was the crew member who had to returned home from Cape Town). Click here to view the letter sent by Chay Blyth to Bernard’s parents
GB 11 took line honours at Portsmouth on 11 April 1974.
In May there was a memorial service at The Royal Garrison Church, Aldershot when a kneeler was presented to the church & dedicated to Bernard.
In June Bernard’s parents attended the presentation of the awards for The Whitbread Round The World Race at the Lord Mayor’s residence, Mansion House, in London. Prince Phillip, The Duke of Edinburgh, Admiral of RNSA, talked with them & presented them with the medals for Bernard as a crew member. Chay presented them with the RNSA Dolphin Trophy which was a Line Honours award to GB 11 for the last leg.
On 5 January 1975 there was a service of dedication of a Bible presented to St. Nicholas Church by Bernard’s parents in his memory.
In 1979, Chay gave a talk with slides about the race at Little Horwood Village Hall.
Bernard had made his mind up during the time he was away that he would leave the Army on his return & build a boat of his own. Who knows what path his life would have taken then?
Sheila Goodger (sister) February 2021