text: bill king ( royal navy officer ) commander william donald aelian " bill " 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 , the only person to command a british submarine on both the first and last days of world war ii . at the time of his death , he was the last surviving british world war ii submarine commander . brought up by his mother and grandmother , king went to the royal naval college in dartmouth . he was first assigned to the battleship resolution , and later became commanding officer of the submarine snapper . he served on three separate vessels 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 400 miles ( 640 km ) 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 grandfather , william king , was chair of mineralogy and geology at queen ’ s college , galway . he was appointed when the college first opened in 1849 . grandfather king was the first to argue that 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 . de courcy king attended royal military academy , woolwich , and then the school of military engineering , chatham . 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 . de courcy king was awarded the distinguished service order ( dso ) in 1916 while a major . during the first world war lieutenant - colonel de courcy king served with the 36th ( ulster ) division in belgium . de courcy king was killed on 27 may 1917 at the age of 42 , and lies buried at military cemetery in belgium . in april the engineers had helped prepare for the battle of arras , primarily tunnelling and mining of enemy positions . as a result of his father 's death , bill king was brought up by his mother and grandmother . 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 resolution , which served in the mediterranean . during this time he became a midshipman . from june 1932 to january 1934 , he was posted to the submarine orpheus , which served near china . he was promoted to lieutenant in 1932 . in april 1935 , king was appointed first lieutenant of the service vessel pigmy , formerly the polish sailing vessel iskra , used by the royal navy at gibraltar to supply the 8th submarine squadron . after seven months , he was transferred to starfish , then to narwhal , before being sent to portsmouth for a commanding officers ' course at hms dolphin . a four - month stint aboard the submarine depot ship titania followed , before king was appointed commanding officer of snapper . world war ii during world war ii , king served in three submarines of the royal navy : snapper , trusty , and telemachus . he patrolled the north sea , the mediterranean , and the far east . 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 . 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 . 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 . 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 . 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 . 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 ) . in 2006 , he received an eighth medal , the arctic emblem . king ended his royal navy career as executive officer of the submarine depot ship forth , 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 ( anita theodosia moira rodzianko king 1914 – 1984 ) . she was the eldest child of sir john randolph shane leslie , 3rd baronet and his wife marjorie ide , the vermont - born daughter of the us ambassador to spain . 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 . 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 , richard tarka bourke king ( b . 1949 ) , and leonie rose king ( b . 1951 ) . 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 in county galway , ireland for ₤ 200- . other sources report that anita leslie - king was given the castle by her mother , who had bought it in 1946 . 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 . " 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 . 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 , on the isle of wight . king 's boat , the two - masted galway blazer ii , a cold - molded plywood schooner , was specially designed for him by angus primrose . it is not certain whether the boat was named after the galway blazers , a local fox hunting club in galway , ireland , which dates to 1839 . based on boats he had seen in china , the 42 - foot ( 13 m ) schooner had a junk rig ( a sail stiffened by battens ) . in this regard galway blazer ii was similar to jester , the junk - rigged used by former royal marine colonel herbert hasler in the first single - handed cross - atlantic race ( ) . king , hasler and primrose had " teamed up " to design the boat , which was displayed " at the london boat show in january 1968 . " king 's intention to sail around the world was overtaken by the institution in march 1968 of the sunday times golden globe race . aged 58 , king became the oldest participant in what was the first organised round the world solo yacht race . in deep water , king explained that he joined the race as a means of recovering psychologically from fifteen years of service in submarines . this , he said , had left him " a nervous wreck " . he had planned to sail around the world before he heard of the race , which " sort of caught up with me . " an aunt 's legacy provided him with the means to finance the boat . king was sponsored by the daily express and sunday express newspapers . one of the shortcomings of the boat was that it had neither guard rails or shrouds to hold on to . king solved this problem with a steel wire that stretched from bow to stern , to which he clipped a harness . his method was then copied by fellow racers and bernard . king started the race on 24 august 1968 . during the race , king lived on raw food , such as dried fruit stirred into almond paste and green sprouts that he grew on board . he read through the new testament , the qur 'an , and edwin arnold 's 1880 buddhist writing , the light of asia , as well as " all the best novels , such as tolstoy . " he said that he did not get depressed during the journey , because of the beauty surrounding him . " you are ... alone with god ... there 's no opportunity to sin " . king lost radio contact during the race . on 31 october , galway blazer ii capsized in 50 - foot ( 15 m ) waves northeast off gough island while king rested , breaking both masts . king had to be towed to cape town , south africa . in 1969 , king again tried and failed to circumnavigate in galway blazer ii . in 1970 , he was ready for another attempt , again using galway blazer ii . ill - health and hull damage forced him to put ashore at australia . after departing on 12 december 1971 , a large sea creature ( a whale or shark ) damaged his boat about 400 miles ( 640 km ) southwest of fremantle . " only his skill and heroic efforts were able to keep the vessel afloat until jury repairs could be made " . king was below deck when he heard a shattering sound and saw the hull below the water line bulge inward and splinter . he rushed upstairs and heeled the boat so that the hole was lifted out of the water . he had to hang over the side and submerge himself to carry out emergency repairs with material that included thirteen ropes , sticky tape , collision covers , sheet copper , and sponge rubber . then he had to fix the inside of the hull as well . after three days of work , he was able to return to fremantle , " barely able to limp into port " . the 1970 journey was eventually successful , with king completing his global circumnavigation on 23 may 1973 . in 1975 the cruising club of america awarded king the blue water medal in recognition of his feat . the same year galway blazer ii was sold to peter crowther , landlord of a devon pub . crowther wrote a book about his experiences with the boat , which was lost on 24 june 1996 during the tenth transatlantic race from plymouth , england , to newport , rhode island in the usa . later life in september 2007 , king and his daughter leonie , still lived at oranmore castle . his life 's experiences continue to attract media attention , from film to music to art installation . he was filmed for two documentaries about the golden globe race ; the 1960s bbc short golden globe – lone sailor round the world race and 2006 's deep water . his war experiences still fascinate documentary film makers . king was interviewed for two planned productions , a 24 minute episode entitled " to honour and peace " for the proposed series entitled bravery beneath the waves , and for the stick & the stars : the life & times of commander bill king . most recent attention arises from king 's interaction with akira tsurukame and katja - blom – the subject of print media articles , an exhibition , and video interviews . tsurukame , son of the chief engineer who perished with i - 166 , in 2004 sought out king . king , tsurukame , and katja , whose father was killed when i - 166 sank the dutch submarine k xvi , together planted a tree at oranmore castle to honour the fathers of the latter two . the local paper , the galway advertiser , dubbed their meeting at oranmore castle a " reconciliation " . subsequently akira tsurukame released video material of his interviews with bill king on the internet . two installations in july 2006 at the project 06 art exhibition in galway referenced king . response to japanese peace and reconciliation was arranged in swan house , and featured art - works by his daughter leonie king and grand - daughter heather finn . the lost at sea installation was a collaboration between galway - based cane 141 , who set stories told by bill king to electronic music , and visual artist roisin coyle . the latter installation has since been exhibited in dublin , and in may 2007 at grace exhibition space in new york city . in 2009 , bill king 's great nephew luke leslie produced the short film king of the waves , which dramatised king 's solo circumnavigation and encounter with the great white shark . it also included interviews with king himself . it was screened before king and his family in oranmore galway on his ninety - ninth birthday shortly before premiering at the 2009 galway , cork and kerry film festivals . king died in september 2012 . at the time of his death , he was the oldest surviving world war ii submarine commander . published works 1958 : the stick and the stars . ( hutchinson ) . 1969 : capsize . ( nautical publishing 1975 : adventure in depth . ( putnam publishing ) . 1983 : dive and attack . and updates the stick and the stars , describes author 's experiences during world war ii . ( w. kimber / hutchinson ) 1989 : the wheeling stars : a guide for lone sailors . boston , london : faber & faber . 1997 : kamikaze : the wind of god ( minerva press )