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KEN OXENHAM
Born:
Lyme Regis,
Devon, 1922
Lived:
Lynton, Lynmouth
Recording made: 2001
Length of recording:
4 hrs 21 mins
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Ken Oxenham comes from a seafaring family from Lynmouth. Brought up on sailing ships, he has lived and breathed the sea most of his life. He was 20, and in the merchant navy, when his ship was torpedoed in the South Atlantic. They were five days at sea before being rescued. Back at Lynmouth, he ran pleasure trips in the harbour, until his boats were destroyed in the 1952 flood. He helped with the relief work afterwards, in charge of stores.
While he was waiting for compensation for his boats he went whaling in Antarctica. Then he came back, bought Glen Lyn Gorge and started generating electricity for the national grid. His son still runs the boat trips. He says he was a bit of an old reprobate really and that he has now just about forgotten he's a boatman. He has been married to his wife Liz, a professional violinist, for nearly 40 years.