Paul Thompson wrote:

2017 seems to be the end terminus for the remaining few of the old guard. It is with great sadness I have heard that Edward Allcard has also passed away. While never a junk sailor, he is of a generation that did so very much with so little. He lived to see the grand age of 102 and was  active right to the end, not much to complain about there!

Here is a link to a good obituary for him: Edward Allcard

Thanks for that update, Paul.  Edward and I had some mutual friends and I exchanged several emails with Clare a few months ago.  I shall send her my condolences.  I have not yet read Edward's last book recently published.  As you say, the guard is changing...

Henry and his children were delighted with Part One of his story.  I have arranged for copies of Part Two to be sent to his children, as we did with Part One.  I am very sad to lose him, as we built a close friendship over the last year, with many values in common. I am grateful that we managed to record his story for posterity.  He was one of our pioneers.

Sir Henry Pigott:  1925 – 2017

It is with much sadness that I have to report the death of Sir Henry Pigott on the 6^th of August, 2017, after a short illness.  Indomitable to the last, he had just sailed up to the Shetland Islands with his daughter, Sarah, aboard her yacht.  Last year, in November, they sailed together to the Channel Islands.  Sarah advised me that she was able to bring Henry home for his last days, where he could look out at his beloved Glory lying in her pond in their garden. 

Over the last year or so it has been my privilege to get to know Henry as we exchanged numerous emails piecing together the story of his life and voyages.  Despite many other claims on his time and energy, he was always helpful and enthusiastic about our project.  In recent months, as I set off on yet another cruise through Great Barrier Reef waters aboard my yacht, Arion, he expressed some regrets that he was unable to follow suit.  But, as he quickly acknowledged, he had been blessed with many years of happy and mostly trouble-free voyaging around the world.  He remained a true seafarer to the end.  One of the last of the early generation of ocean voyagers has gone to Valhalla.

I have expressed my condolences and those of the JRA to Sarah Pigott and her family.