Commander William Donald Aelian King, DSO & Bar, DSC (23 June 1910 – 21 September 2012) was a British naval officer, yachtsman and author. He was the oldest participant in the first solo non-stop, around-the-world yacht race, the Sunday Times Golden Globe Race, and the only person to command a British submarine on both the first and last days of World War II.
Brought up by his mother and grandmother, King went to the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth. He was first assigned to the battleship , and later became commanding officer of the submarine . He commanded three separate RN submarines in World War II, and was promoted to commander and awarded seven medals during the war. King not only survived World War II, but succeeded in a singlehanded circumnavigation in 1973 on his third attempt. During the latter journey, he managed to reach port despite a collision with a large sea creature southwest of Australia.
Family background and childhood William Donald Aelian King was born to William Albert de Courcy King and Georgina Marie MacKenzie in 1910. King's great-grandfather, William King, was Chair of Mineralogy and Geology at Queen's College, Galway. He was appointed when the College first opened in 1849.Sharrock, David. 2006 "A medal at 96? I was not brave or clever", TimesOnline Interview with King about his Arctic Medal and war stories; retrieved 7 January 2008.. "William King (1809–1886)", History of NUI Galway, the Science Faculty and associated scientists; retrieved 7 January 2008. William King was the first to argue that Neanderthals were a species separate from modern humans.
King's father, William Albert de Courcy King, was born in 1875. He married Georgina Marie, daughter of a "Mr. D. F. MacKenzie, of Collingwood Grange, Camberley, Surrey" in June 1908.FreeBMD "Marriages Jun 1908: MacKenzie, Georgina Marie". freebmd.org.uk; retrieved 7 January 2008.Bunbury, Turtle. 2003. "The Leslie Family: Hungary to Ireland (12th century – 2003)"; retrieved 7 January 2008.Warnock, Gabrielle and Jeff W. O'Connell. 2000, Face to Face. Trident Press Ltd., pg. 249; retrieved 7 January 2008. De Courcy King attended Royal Military Academy, Woolwich and then the School of Military Engineering, Chatham.Finan & Co. 2003 "St. Lucia & Africa: the albums of Lt.-Col. William Albert de Courcy King, D.S.O., R.E." Item 179, Spring Sale, Saturday 5 April. Fine Art Consultants, Auctioneers, and Valuers. Retrieved on 7 January 2008. He received his commission as a second lieutenant in the Royal Engineers in 1894. Prior to World War I, his postings included Saint Lucia in the 1890s, where the Engineers constructed gun emplacements and fortified coal stations, and South Africa, where the Engineers built blockhouses (designed by Major S. R. Rice, RE) during the Anglo Boer War.Royal Engineers Museum "Field (Combat) Engineers, Significant Dates and Events, 1899–1902"; retrieved 7 January 2008. De Courcy King was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) in 1916 while a major, during the First World War, serving later as Lieutenant-Colonel with the 36th (Ulster) Division in Belgium. He was killed on 27 May 1917 at the age of 42, and lies buried at Dranoutre Military Cemetery in Belgium.Commonwealth War Graves Commission. "Casualty Details: King, William Albert de Courcey" (sic); retrieved 7 January 2008.
As a result of his father's death, Bill King was brought up by his mother and grandmother. "The strange journey to Oranmore Castle", Galway Advertiser, 26 August 2004; retrieved 7 January 2008. His MacKenzie grandmother was a formidable woman who learned to ski at the age of 75 and still sailed in her eighties.
Early naval career After preparatory school, at the age of twelve, King was sent to the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, in Devon. In the 2006 documentary about the disastrous 1968 round-the-world yacht race; Deep Water, King said that he had been a boxer and a "champion long-distance runner" in his youth.
From December 1927 to April 1930, King was posted to the battleship , which served in the Mediterranean.HMS Resolution, battleships-cruisers.co.uk; retrieved 7 January 2008.
During this time he became a midshipman. From June 1932 to January 1934, he was posted to the submarine , which served near China.speedie.blogspot.com. 2006. "In the Company of a True Hero—Commander Bill King". (Blogger recounts a 2006 encounter with King, posts photographs.); retrieved 7 January 2008.uboat.net. "Allied Warships: HMS Orpheus (N46). Submarine of the O class"; retrieved 7 January 2008. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1932. In April 1935, King was appointed first lieutenant of the service vessel , formerly the Polish sailing vessel Iskra, used by the Royal Navy at Gibraltar to supply the 8th Submarine Squadron."HMS Pigmy", uboat.net; accessed 26 January 2018.
After seven months, he was transferred to , then to , before being sent to Portsmouth for the Submarine Command Course at . Having successfully qualified to command a submarine, a four-month stint aboard the submarine depot ship followed, before, in May 1939, King travelled to Malta to take command of .battleships-cruisers.co.uk. "HMS Titania, June 1938"; retrieved 7 January 2008 (see image).Hans Houterman & Jeroen Koppes "King, William Donald Aelian: Royal Navy (RN) Officers, 1939–1945", World War II Unit Histories and Officers; retrieved 7 January 2008.
World War II During World War II, King served in three submarines of the Royal Navy: Snapper, , and . He patrolled the North Sea, the Mediterranean, and the Far East.Biblio.com. Dive & Attack (rev. ed.) by King, Cdr. W. Description. Retrieved on 7 January 2008.
At the outbreak of the war, King and Snapper were sent to patrol the North Sea. King was commanding officer on Snapper from 16 April 1939 to April 1940. On 3 December 1939, Snapper sustained a direct hit from a British aircraft while returning to Harwich after a patrol, but without taking damage."Allied Warships: HMS Snapper (N 39). Submarine of the S class", uboat.net; retrieved 7 January 2008.
Between December 1939 and July 1940, Snapper sank six ships, mainly in the Skagerrak Strait. These include the tanker Moonsund, the merchant ship Florida, the minesweepers H. M. Behrens and Carsten Janssen, and the armed trawlers Portland and Cygnus. Snapper was later lost under command of Lieutenant Geoffrey Vernon Prowse, either in a minefield or sunk by German depth charges.Kindell, Don."1–28 February 1941: Snapper, submarine, lost" -- Casualty Lists of the Royal Navy and Dominion Navies, 1922–present, naval-history.net; retrieved 7 January 2008.
In 1941, King served on the T-class submarine Trusty in the Mediterranean Sea. On 4 December 1941 Trusty unsuccessfully launched torpedoes against a boat which may have been the Italian torpedo boat Orsa.uboat.net "Allied Warships: HMS Trusty (N 45). Submarine of the T class"; retrieved 7 January 2008.uboat.net. "Allied Warships: Orsa. Torpedo boat of the Orsa class." Retrieved on 7 January 2008.
From 21 July 1943 to August 1945, King was commanding officer of the T-class submarine Telemachus. Telemachus dropped off a special forces unit in western Malaya in October 1944.HMS Telemachus. "British Submarines of World War Two." Retrieved on 12 February 2008.
Operating from a joint British-Dutch base at Ceylon, Telemachus sank the Japanese Kadai-class submarine I-166 in the Strait of Malacca on 17 July 1944.Hackett, Bob & Sander Kingsepp. 2001. "Sensuikan! HIJMS Submarine I-166: Tabular Record of Movement." Retrieved on 7 January 2008.uboat.net. "Allied Warships: HMS Telemachus (P 321). Submarine of the T class." Retrieved on 7 January 2008. Telemachus tracked I-166 for 30 minutes, then fired a spread of six torpedoes. One torpedo hit, and sank the Japanese boat with 89 lives lost; five men on bridge watch survived to be rescued by the Japanese.
During the war, King was promoted to commander, and awarded seven medals, including the DSO on 9 May 1940 for "daring, endurance and resource in the conduct of hazardous and successful operations in His Majesty's Submarines against the enemy", and the Distinguished Service Cross on 6 September 1940 "for bravery and determination during arduous and successful patrols in H.M. Submarines" both whilst in command of Snapper.
A bar was added to his DSO on 16 January 1945 "For outstanding courage, skill and determination in one of H.M. Submarines in successful patrols in Far Eastern waters" (specifically the sinking of I-166).British Medal Forum. "Local Hero". British, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand, Indian, South African and all Commonwealth Medals. britishmedalforum.com. Retrieved on 7 January 2008. In 2006, he received an eighth medal, the Arctic Emblem.
King ended his Royal Navy career as executive officer of the submarine depot ship , an appointment he held from 1 September 1945 to April 1946. His formal retirement came on 9 May 1948.
Post-war life and marriage On 1 January 1949, King married Anita Leslie, a divorcée, whose full name was Anita Theodosia Moira Leslie Rodzianko 1914–1984). She was the eldest child of Sir John Randolph Shane Leslie, 3rd Baronet (aka Shane Leslie), and his wife Marjorie Ide, the Vermont-born daughter of the US ambassador to Spain."Marjorie Ide Weds Under Canopy", New York Times, 12 June 1912; retrieved 7 January 2008.
Bill and Anita probably met in Lebanon in 1943, where King served for 5 months as executive officer of the submarine base at Beirut. She was on a skiing trip after doing duty in Africa in the Motor Transport Corps in 1940–42, although a letter mentions her being in Beirut in 1941–42.Georgetown University Libraries. "Special Collections: Sir Shane Leslie Papers" Box: 31 Fold: 1 Alec Waugh. Letter(s) dated 28 August 1949; retrieved 7 January 2008. Leslie-King then became an ambulance driver in the French Army from 1944 to 1945. For the latter, she was awarded the Croix de Guerre in 1945 by General Charles de Gaulle. As Anita Leslie, she wrote over a dozen books, including Love in a Nutshell (1952), The Remarkable Mr. Jerome: The Life and Times of Leonard Jerome, Sir Winston Churchill's American Grandfather (1954). In 1974 she wrote the biography of Francis Chichester, the first person to sail around the world single-handedly with only one stop. The Kings had two children.
After the war, King took up farming and was an avid fox hunter, as was his wife. In 1946, the Kings bought Oranmore Castle, a 15th century Norman keep built on Galway Bay Ireland for £200. Other sources report that Anita Leslie-King was given the castle by her mother, who had bought it in 1946.tourismresources.ie "A Royal Castle! Oranmore Castle, near Galway. Havens & Hideaways"; retrieved 7 January 2008.
For a while, the Kings lived in a hunting lodge outside Oranmore village, designed by Bill, and built while he and Anita went on a "world sailing cruise."Finlan, Michael. "Galway Hunting Lodge is bang on" , The Irish Times; retrieved 8 January 2008. To help combat his wife's asthma, King developed an organic farm and garden to feed his family. Both Anita Leslie's mother and grandmother had suffered asthma. Video of a visit with Commander Bill King at Oranmore; retrieved 15 February 2008.
Solo circumnavigation By 1967, King was intent on sailing around the world by himself. He had a boat built for this purpose at Souter's yard at Cowes, Isle of Wight.Knox-Johnston, Robin. A World of My Own (1969, pg. 18), W.W. Norton & Company; retrieved 7 January 2008.Paine, Lincoln P. Ships of Discovery and Exploration (2000, pg. 57), Houghton Mifflin Books; retrieved 7 January 2008.