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Photograph of John Marshall on the pilot cutter on the River Tyne with a ferry in the background

John Marshall

John belongs to: Souter Lighthouse

John was born in South Shields. He is the fifth generation of Tyne pilots in his family.

John was interviewed by Carl Greenwood on 12 April 2006. The interview took place at Discovery Museum and lasted 28 minutes and 26 seconds.

Photograph of John Marshall on the pilot cutter on the River Tyne with a ferry in the background
Photograph of John Marshall on the pilot cutter

Growing up in a family of pilots

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"I was brought up, it was all around me, with, surrounded by a family who were pilots"

I was brought up, it was all around me, with, surrounded by a family who were pilots and my mother was one of, one of five, she had two brothers, they were both Tyne pilots, and one of her sisters married another pilot, so I couldn’t get away from it. And as a kid, I was born and brought up on the Lawe Top and I used to see ships coming out al the time and, you know, I would ask my dad, you know, “what ship did you get last night,” and I used to go onboard ships with him when was quite small.

I can remember being on one when I was about eight or nine, he would take me on ships, and, usually ships that were in the river, he wouldn’t go out onboard form the pilot boat- but ships that were in dry dock on the river, and I was just sort of immersed in it from an early age and when I got to 16, I had the opportunity of becoming a pilot apprentice, so, I thought, “well, I’ll do the apprenticeship and if it’s, if I don’t like it then I can always leave and do something else,” but if I hadn’t started the apprenticeship I would never had got into the pilot service.

Visitor Comments

Mr J Phillips

My grandfather John Phillips followed his father into the tyne pilot service during ww2, i recall him telling of night runs with war ships and of the near miss of a bomb, i still have great grandads hat badge.I was raised in cullercoats and now live in tasmania. i remember as a small boy watching in amazment as grandad lept from the pilot boat to the rope ladder making sure his wave timing was spot on. He was my hero.

By Martin J Dodds On 9 December 2007

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This memory has these themes:
Childhood | Traditions | Work

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