Simon Rabett (1948 to 2024) spent the first part of his life in East Africa where his father was with the Colonial service. There he learned to speak Swahili. He returned to England in 1961 and joined the Training Ship Mercury, on the same day as me in January 1962. We spent three years there where we became close friends. In December 1964 we both left to go to sea as apprentices. Simon joined his grandfather’s old company, Andrew Weir’s Bank Line where he spent all his seagoing career, sailing on their large feet of tramp vessels, rising to chief officer.
In between voyages, in 1972, he and his brother Paul delivered a yacht to Capetown. Whilst they were preparing the boat in Falmouth he met his future wife, Tessa. During his leaves he became a volunteer coastguard in the local station. In 1980 he came ashore to become a full-time coastguard officer, firstly in Scotland, then at Hartland Point and finally back to Falmouth Maritime Rescue Co-ordination Centre, which, by then, had global responsibilities. In 1994 he was Senior Watch Officer when the station received a distress call from the Italian liner Achille Lauro, on passage from the Red Sea to South Africa, which was on fire off the coast of Somalia and being abandoned. Thanks to Falmouth Centre, led by Simon, they were able to co-ordinate the safe rescue of all but two people before she sank.
He was to stay in Falmouth for the rest of his service with the Coastguard, rising to the Centre Manager. As his hobby, Simon was a keen and very skilled yachtsman with his own boat. On one occasion he and his father-in-law volunteered to be helicoptered out to a yacht in distress, in severe weather conditions, off Lands End. The crew, an inexperienced young couple, were close to exhaustion and without the skills in such conditions. Thankfully they brought the boat safely into Falmouth and for their courage and huge efforts, both were awarded a Certificate of Seamanship Skills by the Royal Yachting Association (RYA).
On retirement, in 2014, Simon joined the RNLI as a volunteer deputy launch officer, thus continuing to use his skills and links with the Coastguard by authorising local lifeboat launches. He also volunteered for the charity Turn to Starboard – which supports veterans and those referred by the NHS to manage PTSD by boosting mental health through sailing. There he taught sailing on behalf of the Royal Yachting Association (RYA) until 2021.
Simon leaves behind his wife Tessa and two adult children, both following in their father’s footsteps. Andrew is relief master of a 156m mega yacht and Wendy is a skilled ocean-going yacht master. They summed him up as a very patient, kind and loving family man who had time for everybody and would volunteer for anything – sentiments that I can wholeheartedly echo.
David Parsons (2730)