Gentlemen sailors who served

Fans of the James Bond books may remember author Ian Fleming signing up his hero for service in the Royal Naval Volunteer Supplementary Reserve (RNVSR), but for the most part this is not a very well-known route into Second World War service.

Certainly, Julia Jones had not heard of the RNVSR when she discovered some old papers of her father's in the attic, but she was so intrigued that she started to research his war service, and ended up writing the history that became Uncommon Courage: The Yachtsmen Volunteers of World War II.

Jones starts with the founding of the RNVSR in 1936 as a service for 'gentlemen sailors who might be of use to the Navy in times of war.' She then takes us through the Second World War and beyond. As might be expected, the RNVSR played a role in the 'small boats' that famously evacuated Allied troops from Dunkirk in 1940, but there were other missions that the gentlemen carried out in their own yachts – for example, spying on German ports while pretending to be on holiday in the months just prior to the outbreak of war.

One prominent member of the RNVSR was the novelist Nevil Shute, whose story is told in some detail in Uncommon Courage thanks to his own written accounts of his experiences. But there are equally fascinating stories of bravery and ingenuity on the part of less well-known sailors in this lively and absorbing work, which garnered such interest on its hardback release in 2022 that it has now become available in paperback.

Uncommon Courage: The Yachtsmen Volunteers of World War II
By Julia Jones
Adlard Coles, £9.99
ISBN: 978 14729 87112