John Hector Willis' sailing career spanned 52 years, from 1912 to 1964.
He went to sea around the age of 12, as his father was too ill to work. One of his older brothers worked in the fish plant, the other on the coastal boats. Jack had to go on the seafaring boats, so he did not get home often.

Obtained his Master’s Certificate 25 April 1936

1912 - 1919 British Royal Navy, Seaman; Gun Layer 2nd class

WWI Naval Service Record for John Hector Willis [Service # 1830X]

28 June 1915 Enlisted.
28 June 1915 to 22 Sept 1915 Seaman NRNR in HMS Calypso.
23 Sept 1915 to 26 Jan 1916 Seaman HMS Pembroke I (shore establishment).
27 Jan 1916 to 3 April 1916 Leading Seaman HMS Pembroke I.
4 April 1916 to 15 December 1916 HMS Gibraltar (training cruiser).
16 Dec 1916 to 24 Dec 1916 HMS Pembroke I.
25 December 1916 to 3 July 1917 HMCS Niobe.
4 July 1917 to 22 Nov 1917 HMS Briton (apparently serving on schooner Dorothy G. Snow).
23 Nov 1917 to 16 July 1918 HMCS Niobe, Able Seaman in RCN.
17 July 1918 to 4 December 1918 Patrol Vessel CD 34, attached to HMCS Seagull shore establishment;
5 December 1918 to 20 December 1918 HMCS Niobe, then "reverted to R.N.".
21 December 1918 to 8 April 1919 HMS Briton.
8 April 1919 Demobilized.

Jack received the following medals for his service in WW I

1914-1915 Star
British War Medal
British Victory Medal

Ships: HMS Leviathan; HMS Gibraltar; HMS Caesar. Was on North Sea Patrol during the Battle of Jutland.
Attended Navigation School, St. John’s, Newfoundland..
1920 - 1939 Served as Able Seaman; Mate; & Master on both sailing ships and steamers and was shipwrecked 4 times
Ships: “Drummond”; “Annie B. Anderson”; “Chautauga”; “Union Jack”; “Dorothy Baird”; “John Cabot”.
1940 - 1941 WW II, Lieutenant, HMCS Stadacona
1941 - 43 Lieutenant, HMCS Arras
1943 - 46 CO, Examination Vessels HMCS Protector, Sydney
1943 - 46 Navigational Instructor, Sea Cadets
1947 - 1964 Dosco Ships, particularly the “Arthur Cross”

Jack received the following medals for his service in WW II

Canadian Volunteer Service Medal with Overseas Service Clasp
1939-1945 Star
War Medal 1939-1945
Atlantic Star

After the war, Jack sailed out of St. John's until he moved to Halifax between 1933-1934. He and Annie moved to Sidney in 1940.

“The Pilot”
Column headline:The View From Fogo Island

HEADLINE: Fogo seafarers

Going on 80 years ago three men from Fogo had an adventure on the high seas that equals, and in many cases surpasses, those of some of the great seafarers and explorers from any country at any time. The three, Captain Jack Willis, his cousin Harvey Willis, and Fred Gill, together with four others, were the crew of the ill-fated schooner, the Dorothy Baird that became disabled by a mid-Atlantic storm while they were en route from Brazil to Newfoundland.
The Dorothy Baird was a 309-ton tern owned by James Baird Limited of Water Street, St. John’s, and the schooner was the company’s main workhorse in the foreign trade – specifically the Caribbean and Brazil. It sounds pretty exciting; at least the traveling to those countries does. By the way, a tern was a three-masted schooner.
Under the command of Captain Willis the Dorothy Baird sailed through the Narrows of St. John’s just after Christmas Day in 1929. Harvey Willis was only 21 at the time and was the cook. Fred Gill who was 39 at the time was one of the deck hands and it would be his responsibility to go aloft and handle his mast. Each of the crew members excluding the captain and the cook was responsible for a mast and this was strenuous and very dangerous work.
The schooner had full load of salt codfish and was headed to what is now known as Recife located on the bulge of Brazil closest to Africa. They were sailing off the Grand Banks in heavy weather for 10-12 days and as a result lost a full suit of canvas. They lay around for a few days while they set up a new suit and then carried on, that is a jaunt of 42 days, before reaching their destination. Losing a suit of canvas and then expediting it was all in a day’s work for Newfoundland schooner men at those times, most likely. What really mattered was getting there with their cargo, or the voyage would be lost anyway, and nobody could afford that.
When they had disposed of their cargo, Captain Willis headed north from Brazil for Barbados in the Caribbean, to pick up molasses and rum, and it was then that they ran into extremely bad weather. As I read this story, I kept wondering if they were not in the midst of one of those tropical hurricanes that we hear so much about those days. Certainly they would not have had any prior warning of such a storm, as mariners would today. First, the storm carried away the mizzen mast and the sails, and the spar struck the bottom of the vessel causing it to leak. (The mizzen is the third mast from the front on a tern.) By now mountainous seas swept over the wind-tossed tern and the crew pumped around the clock Things quickly got worse because within a few hours sand from the ballast clogged the pumping mechanism and water began to rise higher.
By now they were in a very desperate situation. Their only lifeboat had been smashed to pieces in the storm, and they kept a constant lookout for passing ships. This must have seemed very unlikely, but as the poet said, ‘hope springs eternal.’ At night they burned their straw bed to attract attention, and after five weary days they sighted the dim lights of a vessel, and they signalled desperately. Their signals went unnoticed.
At this point the situation looked very hopeless and they had almost given up any hope of being rescued when they sighted the vessel the British Valour. There was some good luck here, ironically, because the same storm that destroyed the Dorothy Baird, pushed the vessel British Valour off course and close to the sinking tern.
Words would not be able to describe the feeling of the crew at this time. They must have thought it an answer to their prayers, for sure. When the passing steamer found the Dorothy Baird on February 10, 1930, the crew pretty near to total exhaustion was working the pumps, but water had gained on them and was eight feet deep in the holds. Captain Willis and his six men were taken aboard the SS British Valour, bound for Holland, thousands of miles away. They were issued dry clothing, fed, and offered a dash of ‘Nelson’s Blood’. It is not too difficult to guess what that was. Is that term used much today? They were about 580 miles south of Cape Race when the rescue took place.
Their trip ended in Rotterdam, Holland. One may wonder what their knowledge of world geography was. Had they any idea at first how far they were away from home? They were taken care of by an organization which they described as similar to the YMCA for a few days. From there they went to Belgium, and then to the port of Liverpool in England. They arrived back in Fogo in March, 1930 from a voyage that was just about three months! Can you imagine the story that they had to tell? It is most likely that their families here in Fogo thought that they had drowned, as I am not sure whether they were able to make contact with their family while they were in Europe. It would not have been easy, if at all. We can realize the significance of this event because the story was carried in the Dutch newspaper, “Rotterdamsch Niewsblad”, on February 22-23 of 1930; a little more about that later.
I had the privilege of getting to know Harvey Willis when I first came to Fogo; in fact his grandson later married my sister. I remember him as a confident man who certainly did not seem to be carrying any of the scars after this ordeal, but who knows? We hear so much of people today suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, and those who do could not have had a more harrowing experience than either of these.
I also remember him as a man ahead of his time in that he had no hesitation in spreading his fish on a Sunday to dry, if the weather warranted it. There were some at that time who would rather let their fish rot than spread it on a sunny Sunday to perhaps save it. Who would hesitate doing that today? I also remember his being in his church pew on Sunday mornings. Unfortunately, in any conversation I had with him, I was not aware of this adventure; else I would have gotten him to tell me. How much someone like him might have added to tales of our great explorers. In my way of thinking he’s up there with any of the crew of Cabot’s or Columbus’ ships. I almost suspect that he didn’t place the significance on this adventure as some would. He passed away only a few years ago. Fred Gill died in 1935. His son Albert still lives in Fogo. I have no information on Captain Willis. This story was carried in The Pilot, December 3, 1980, and at that time Harvey ­ who was being interviewed ­ had the two pages of the Dutch newspaper that carried this story and their picture. Most likely this is a treasured family heirloom, but perhaps it could be borrowed and placed on display in one of our museums during the summer. I am truly indebted to Mrs. Carrie Layman of Harbourview Apartments for telling me of this adventure, and giving me some of the written information. This account is also in Robert Parsons Survive the Savage Sea: Tales from Our Ocean Heritage (1998 Creative Publishers) and I am also indebted to his account of this tale.

Bell Island Submarine Miner November 1954
The S.S. "Arthur Cross" was caught in one of the gales experienced during the month of October and took an extra seventeen hours over the usual 36 to make the voyage from Sydney to Wabana. Her Captain, J.H. WILLIS, reports that it was one of the roughest trips he had experienced in years.

Captain Jack's love of the sea and his Country was passed along to his descendants.

His son, Ron, served on the Dosco boats with his father, traveling between Sydney, NS and Bell Island, Port-au-Port, & Stephenville for several years before embarking on a career with the Canadian Coast Guard. Now retired, he serves with the Commissionaires and is works at HMS Halifax.

His grandson, Ronald Bruce Willis, son of John Hector Jr., served with the Canadian Air Force for more than 20 years, flying CF-18's, retiring as Captain. He currently teaches for the Saudi Arabia Air Force. He saw service several times during the Gulf War.

His grandson, Chris Willis, son of James, served with the Canadian Navy for 17 years, aboard the HMCS Iroquois, frigate HMCS St. John's, and submarines Onondaga and Victoria. He re-mustered to the Canadian Air Force and is assigned to the Sea King helicopters. He is currently serving in Afghanistan. In 2012, he will be assigned to be a Instructor at the Flight School in Halifax, NS. He also saw service in the Gulf War.

A great-grandson, Tyler Myroniuk, is with the Canadian Reserves and has seen service in Afghanistan. In 2008 he was awarded, at the age of 21, the Medal of Military Valour, one of our nation's highest honours.

Corporal Tyler Brian Myroniuk, M.M.V., Edmonton, Alberta, Medals of Military Valour
On August 4, 2008, insurgent forces surrounded an Afghan National Army company in a complex ambush in the Panjwayi district of Afghanistan. Warrant Officer Crane and Corporal Myroniuk selflessly remained in the danger zone to extract an Afghan casualty and support another Canadian soldier who was caught in the open. Together, they stood against over 30 insurgents using small arms fire and, when their ammunition was depleted, resorted to hand grenades to hold off the enemy. The courage of Warrant Officer Crane and Corporal Myroniuk saved Canadian and Afghan lives and prevented the company from being outflanked.

A grandson, Michael Willis, son of Bruce, has been an Engineer with the Canadian Coast Guard for more than 21 years.

Our daughter, Ann Marion Willis, spent 5 years with the Marion Bridge #38 Royal Canadian Sea Cadets, finishing as Chief Petty Officer. Her role models were her Uncle Bruce (Sydney Sea Cadets), brother Chris (Sydney Air Cadets) and cousin Michael (Canso Sea Cadets).