# Ben Pester



## spongebob (Dec 11, 2007)

Ben Pester

I was scanning the internet book sellers a few days ago and was surprised when I came across a book written by Ben Pester called "Just Sea and Sky."
Ben was born in NZ and in 1943 at age 18 he sailed to Britain and joined the Royal Navy. Ten years later he returned to NZ on transfer to the RNZN as a Lieutenant (E) and took leave to travel with a companion .from Plymouth to Auckland on a small yacht . The voyage , an epic voyage at the time was well publicised and it was when he started back on duty that I and other second year apprentices made his acquaintance . 
Reading his history brings it all back to me.

We were out of the initial apprentice training workshop where we used basic hand tools to fashion a 1-inch mild steel cube out of a 2 inch bar and to a fine tolerance before other exercises toward becoming very basic craftsmen.
Our next posting was to the light cruiser HMNZs Black Prince which had been allotted by the RN to NZ , albeit being badly in need of an extensive refit after war service.
All the high pressure stem pipe work between the boiler main stops and the engine room headers had been opened up for inspection and tests and we apprentices were put to the task of cleaning and scraping all of the raised face pipe work flanges until that passed inspection of the ship's Naval crew.
The man we were answerable to was Lieutenant (E) Ben Pester, a man keen to make his mark in the New Zealand service . We put to practice our new found skills using the odd draw file then a flat scraper to gradually flatten the face surface until the face plate blue showed dead flat surfaces. This took weeks and whenever we considered each face finished, Ben would come along in his white overalls and with his big 6-cell torch seek out any little defect that might lead to a leak. There was never a perfect first inspection, only the second or third test would be approved. We swapped work positions occasionally as some had an easy face up surface while others had to work up in a difficult position due to the pipe position.
We definitely added to our skills but it was an over-kill when the pipe work was restored and bolted up with reinforced Klingerite HP jointing coated with fresh red lead and varnish. Good training though.
The worst moment came when one apprentice got so fed up with the knock backs of his work piece that he asked Ben "Is it OK this time". Ben replied "Yes" and the lad said "just as well, otherwise I would have dropped this face plate on you".
It was said in jest but Ben needed to assert himself and the outcome was a couple of months probation for the lad.
Never the less Ben Pester was a bit of a hero what with his sailing venture and the fact that he had shipped his car from England, a New Bristol coupe convertible which most of us would die for. His yacht was moored off the Devonport wharf for some time and was on the market for a bargain price but far beyond my wildest dreams at the time

I read that Ben died in the UK in 2010 at age 85.

Bob


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## Varley (Oct 1, 2006)

Ben,

I think this is his (an) obituary:

http://www.oceancruisingclub.org/images/stories/Flying_Fish/Flying_Fish_2010_2/obituaries.pdf


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## spongebob (Dec 11, 2007)

Thanks for that Varley, that is the the man, even his photograph brings back the memory. A very capable individual .

Bob


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