Tony Davies
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1933 – 2024
After his many voyages and expeditions Tony always returned to the city of his birth, Sheffield, and it was there that he died peacefully surrounded by his large and loving family. Like many Yorkshiremen, Tony was always proud of his home city and its industrial heritage. When visiting friends, he would seldom miss an opportunity to inspect the cutlery looking for the prestigious ‘Made in Sheffield’ stamp and would always nod approvingly if he judged the silverware to be the right mix of steel, chromium, and nickel.
Tony was a smart kid who thrived at school and went on to study pharmacy before becoming a retail chemist in his home city. He married his pharmacist wife, Alison, 64 years ago and between them they raised three children and an army of grand and great-grand children. Being both shrewd Yorkshiremen, Tony and Alison took advantage of their shop’s half day closing to marry on a Wednesday afternoon.
All his life Tony indulged his passions for sailing, skiing, hiking and mountaineering. With his daughter as crew, he cruised the Mediterranean and Caribbean in his 35’ Maxi built for him in Sweden and delivered to the Caribbean. He made three Atlantic crossings navigating exclusively by sextant.
He joined the Ocean Cruising Club in 1978 and travelled the world attending Club events in British Columbia, Horta and, more recently, in Scotland. It was at a Southampton Boat Show Dinner that he met the Flying Fish editor who recognised his proof-reading skills and quickly recruited him. He gave of his time generously and spent a decade assiduously dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s.
Aged 50, Tony stepped away from his lucrative career to spend more time travelling, socialising, sailing, adventuring, and supporting his growing family. It was at that time that I met him when he served as pharmacist on the successful British Mount Everest Medical Expedition 1994 researching into the physiology of adaptation to high altitude. Tony supplied the Expedition and its many members with copious quantities of pharmaceuticals that he had procured from his many contacts in the trade. All drugs were meticulously packaged in a variety of industrial blue plastic barrels sourced from the factories of his beloved home city.
One of his lifelong ambitions was to visit Everest and the other was to sail to the Lofoten Islands in Northern Norway. In 2007 we were delighted to offer Tony a berth on our boat for the long and chilly passage from Orkney to the Arctic and beyond. For his return voyage he tracked down another OCC boat needing crew from Bergen to Scotland.
Even as he grew frail, he would always make the effort to drive the length and breadth of the UK (and beyond) in his trusty van which was also his home away from home. More ‘white van’ than luxurious camper-van it had no luxuries but it suited Tony’s needs perfectly. It had a place to perch a stove, put on a brew and roll out a sleeping bag.
Tony’s funeral was attended by a large throng of family and friends and each fondly remembered a man who loved his family and thrived on adventure. An intelligent man who was unfailingly kind, generous and interested in others. He will be missed.
