Malcolm Thomas was born in Paignton, South Devon, England. He was the second son born to Frank and Florence Elsie Crimp (formally Tabb) and brother to David John Crimp. At the time of his birth, WW2 was already in full swing. Soon after his birth, his father was called away to active duty with the British Army overseas. It would be 1946, after his father was demobbed from the Army, that they would officially meet each other for the very first time.
When his father returned from the war, he placed both his sons into the local Catholic primary school. This is where young Malcolm started to excel academically and developed an interest in reading. From here he obtained a scholarship to attend Totnes Grammar School, where he completed his high school education. Outside of school, he was an active participant in the Boy Scouts and received the “Kings Award”, which was the highest honour achievable. Malcolm had an artistic flair and enjoyed drawing, painting, and listening to classical music. He spent many summers as a child on his grandparent’s farm in Prawle, Devon and enjoyed telling his children about his happy times there in later life.
On leaving school, he felt that his destiny was to pursue a career at sea, so he initially chose to follow other family members into the Royal Navy. However, during the 1950’s, the Royal Navy only took its officer candidates from upper class families. Undeterred, then at 16 years of age, in 1956 he decided to embark on a 4-year Officer Cadetship with the Merchant Navy instead. This time at sea saw Malcolm travel far afield and he often reminisced and talked with his children about the adventures he had. His love of the sea coupled with his academic abilities saw him become the youngest UK qualified Master Mariner at 24 years old. He further completed his extra Master’s certification.
On November 13th, 1965, Malcolm married his wife, Margaret Elizabeth Leonard of Aldington, Kent, after a two-year courtship. Margaret was the daughter of John and Gwenda Leonard and sister of Peter Leonard. Malcolm and Margaret stayed in Kent for the first few years of their married life. In 1968, their first child Simon was born followed by Elizabeth in 1971 and finally Emma in 1974. To be closer to his wife and children, Malcolm took a position as a Chief Officer on the cross-channel ferries between Dover and Calais.
During this period, Malcolm took further studies and completed his Bachelor of Science degree in Nautical Studies. After obtaining his degree, he taught Navigation to young officer cadets at the brand new Merchant Navy College in Greenhithe, Kent. In 1977, our parent’s sense of adventure led Malcolm to accept a teaching position abroad. That year they moved their young family from the UK to Madang, Papua New Guinea, where our father taught at the Nautical Institute. During this time, he became aware of discrimination and racism towards other members of staff. When temporarily acting as Head of the Institute, he took the opportunity to right wrongs done to other staff. In 1979, Malcolm was offered a position as a Marine Pilot in the Port of Kieta, Bougainville Island, Papua New Guinea. Whilst in this position, he also filled other roles as the Harbour Master and Port Manager. This is where he became an expert in ship handling, guiding a variety of vessels over the barrier reef into port using only his pilot boat crew and no tugs to assist.
During their 5 years in Papua New Guinea, Malcolm and Margaret enjoyed many adventures and made steadfast friends from all over the world, many of whom they have remained in contact with.
At 42 years of age, Malcolm returned to the UK and took a management position running an office in London for Swire Pacific Offshore, who operated supply ships to Oil Rigs worldwide. It was part of the John Swire Group which included HSBC & Cathy Pacific Airlines. Whilst with Swire’s, he flew to different parts of the world and spent time managing the local office in Gabon. During this time, Margaret and the children returned to Devon to live.
In 1984, Malcolm returned overseas to take up a position as a Rig Move Master with Saudi Aramco, the largest Arabian and US Oil Company in the world. Once again, with our parent’s insatiable sense of adventure, the family was moved abroad and lived on the American camp “Ras Tanura” in the eastern province of Saudi Arabia. During this time, Malcolm would fly offshore to work.
On completion of 2 years in Saudi Arabia, Malcolm decided to move the family to the Mediterranean Island of Cyprus. Whilst the family were living in Saudi, Malcolm became aware of discrimination towards others in Aramco and took a stance for those who couldn’t. As a result, Malcolm’s work environment suffered. He and Margaret felt it was best to move their family to a better environment because of this. After continuing to work for Aramco offshore for another two years, he then became self-employed and set up his own Offshore Marine Company in Cyprus. He also worked for a shipping company based in Egypt, which meant he got to travel to parts of Africa.
Recognizing his limited opportunities within shipping in the UK, in July 1991, aged 51, Malcolm brought the family to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada where he initiated his own Marine Surveyor business servicing P&I Clubs, Law firms, Ship Owners, Operators, Charterers, and Seafarers. He was a past Director for both the Marine Surveyors Association of British Columbia and the Nautical Institute, British Columbia branch.
Ever suffering from the travel bug, vacations to visit the many friends they had made from their time living in PNG, Saudi, and Cyprus didn’t quite fulfill their desire to travel and Malcolm and Margaret took a leave of absence from Canada to return to Cyprus and the UK. During this period, he took a job working for the Ministry of Defence in Taunton, Somerset, UK, as an Editor at their Hydrographic Office. In that position, he wrote publications for the Admiralty on Alaska and the Bering Straits which can now be found on Naval and Commercial vessels around the world.
When they both returned to Canada, Malcolm settled back into business again as a Marine Surveyor. Unfortunately, in 2010 he was diagnosed with the early stages of Parkinson’s Disease. That year, he became a grandfather to his first grandson, Xavier. Later, the following year he would also meet his second grandson, Connor Russell Crimp. In 2013, he retired to spend his remaining years enjoying time with his family. He was still able to travel and enjoy some vacations with Margaret and his daughter, Emma. His time in Italy was particularly memorable to him.
The progressive deterioration of Malcolm’s Parkinson’s disease led him to enter a care home in May 2020. Unfortunately, the timing of his going into a care home during his last year could not have been worse with the current world pandemic. The times we were permitted to visit him were very restricted. However, we did our best to coordinate our schedules to rotate with each other and support him as much as we could.
On February 22nd, 2021, Malcolm was admitted to hospital with severe pneumonia. He did not respond to treatment. On February 26th, 2021, at 1355 hours, our dear father took his last breath and passed away into God’s hands with his family by his side. Malcolm leaves behind Margaret, his loving wife of 56 years, his son, Simon, his two daughters Elizabeth and Emma, his son-in-law Josef, his two grandsons Xavier and Connor, and his step grandson, Paris. He was a kind, gentle, hardworking and loving husband and father. He will be terribly missed by his family and friends. Now that he is in God’s hands, may our dear father Malcolm Thomas Crimp rest in peace forever.
As the saying goes- “Fair Winds, Calm Seas, Stand Easy Shipmate, Your Watch is Done!”