Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
‘Johnny No Hands’
Owen John Oliver was born with no hands, two short arms and a club foot – but he didn’t let that hold him back from leading a remarkable life on the river.
The tug skipper was highly skilled with his other foot and went on to forge a successful career on the River Medway where he plied his trade for more than 40 years.
Such was his level of precision he could even play a mean game of darts, tie a bowline knot behind his back with one foot and get a mooring rope over a bollard first throw.
His exceptional craft and skill earned him the nickname “John the Ferryman” among his friends at the Rochester Cruising Club, although he was also known to some as “Johnny No Hands”.
He owned many boats in his time but was best known for his tug Hobbit, which was a notable presence along the River Medway as he towed many a barge, houseboat and other forms of watercraft. Lifelong friend and former partner Frances Beaumont is currently researching and writing a book on his remarkable life and has held sold-out talks in different corners of the county, including Canterbury, Faversham, Medway, Swale and the Isle of Sheppey. An article on her literary endeavours appeared in the Memories column of the Medway Messenger in October 2016 prompting people to share their stories and personal tales of the iconic tugman. Frances inherited John’s houseboat Joliver which she renovated and later sold to a couple in Rochester where it remains.
She describes the tugman as an “intelligent, funny and fiercely independent” man who was a “raconteur who could make anybody laugh” and “once seen, never forgotten”.
The first time Frances met John was at the Canopus pub in Borstal, Rochester, in 1967.
She was walking into the venue with her brother when she was struck by the sound and vision of a man rolling a cigarette under the table with his toes while he told a lengthy joke to eager listeners.
“I saw he was a most unusual, intelligent and interesting man with golden eyes and a wicked sense of humour,” she said.
“My book is about our complex lives, always with the Medway as a backdrop.” The pair grew very close but while the skipper had a fondness for children he did not harbour any intentions to have any of his own and the couple split but remained close friends.
They remained in touch right up until John’s passing aged 88 on May 17, 2014 at Medway Maritime Hospital following a short illness.
She remarks how even on his deathbed the skipper was still cracking jokes and gave Frances permission to tell his story.
John’s remarkable tale started in a small village called Glinton, just outside of Peterborough, in September 1925. “It must have been a shock to his parents at that time,” said Frances.
His early life was difficult as he left his family when he was just seven to go to a resident school for “cripples and orphans” and his parents were not allowed to visit.
It was hard for him, adds Frances, and he later ran away from the school in the end. Despite this John never let the lack of hands hold him back and she says he had a fierce commitment to anything he was tasked with. “He was independent and didn’t want to be mollycoddled,” she said. “He wanted to make his own way in life and that is what he did, often better than most people with two hands.” John enrolled at Northampton Art School between 1947 and 1952, earning a National Diploma in Design. The qualification allowed him to teach but he preferred to paint and would travel around the country on his three-wheeled trike and trailer during the summer. During his “wandering years” he would paint pictures of landscapes, pubs and boats with his feet.
One excursion took him to Paris, where to supplement his income as an artist, he would work as a kitchen porter and then later a sous chef.
He came to Rochester in 1950 aged 25 and learnt to sail, becoming a popular figure among yacht and barge owners and lighter-men. During the annual Thames Sailing Barge matches, his tug Hobbit was a regular safety boat and would tow vessels in distress back to port.
He once rescued a leaking old Bawley called Alarm from Leigh-on-sea and sailed it single-handed back to Rochester, though it nearly sank when he got as far as Hoo.
But the most unusual tow he ever manoeuvred was to bring a dead cow down from Allington lock, near Maidstone. It was a job he was reluctant to do, as the cow was bloated and “likely to explode from the gas”, he remarked, but nevertheless John, a master of the ropes, managed to get a lasso around its legs and tow her gently down. Rescue missions were to become a regular part of John’s life on the rivers of Kent and in May 1988 he hit the headlines after one rescue was branded “Amazing Rescue by reluctant hero who has no arms” by a local newspaper. The article offended John who often shunned the spotlight and quipped “I might be a hero but I’m not armless”. It was his unrelenting wit and “good nature”, Frances says, which is what drew so many people to John, adding he would help anyone on the river. In fact, a passion of John’s was preserving steam engines and he worked with others on many notable restoration projects. These included the Medway Queen paddle steamer, which is the only vessel of its kind left in the UK, as well as the Cervia, a steam tug which is part of the Ramsgate Maritime Museum.
Last month the Medway Queen was named the South East’s Flagship of the Year by National Historic Ships UK and it is currently docked on Gillingham Pier.
She made seven return trips during the Second World War, rescuing 7,000 troops in the Dunkirk evacuation of 1940, and earning the nickname, the Heroine of Dunkirk. John’s talents with engineering, which he picked up from his dad who ran a garage back in Peterborough, were not limited to boats either.
He once adapted a small white van and drove around the UK with his Burmese cat called Link who was his constant companion. John’s legacy lives on through his famous tug Hobbit which can still be seen moored below the Rochester bridge on a buoy.
It is currently being restored by a friend of his called Mr Andrews. Meanwhile Frances is applying the finishing touches to her memoir “Johnny No Hands and Me” and hopes to publish the book by the close of this year or early next. To find out more about the extraordinary life of John Oliver visit www. francesbeaumont.co.uk or visit her Facebook page ‘John Oliver - an extraordinary life’.