Jack Glover: Bunkmate of Alistair MacLean

Jack Glover (1923-2025) was 19 when he was posted to HMS Royalist, a newly built Dido-class light cruiser, seeing action in every theatre during the Second World War from the Atlantic and the Arctic to the Mediterranean and the Far East. As a decoder, he was responsible for encrypting and decrypting wireless messages, communicating with naval headquarters and other warships, and intercepting signals from the German navy.

[Glover [R] with Alistair MacLean [L], and the launch of HMS Royalist at Greenock in 1942] 

Although it was a demanding role, Glover considered himself to have got off lightly compared with many of his comrades, especially on the Arctic convoys. “I was operating inside the ship, so I wasn’t exposed to the Arctic weather, so I had a fairly easy time really,” he said. “I just remember the bunks being so close together”.

His bunkmate and “run-ashore oppo” on HMS Royalist was Alistair MacLean, who later wrote the bestselling novel 'HMS Ulysses' (1955), a fictional account of life on the Arctic convoys based on their experiences at sea.

While Glover is not referred to by name in 'HMS Ulysses', he recognised himself in some of MacLean’s characters. “I identified myself in them and in a lot of what was going on there as I was with him at the time. I was interested, I was part of that story,” he told a newspaper in 2023. The pair lost touch after the war.

Despite the horrendous conditions on the Arctic convoys, Glover recalled the camaraderie on board. “It was a dangerous job,” he told the BBC, while insisting that the dangers did little to dampen their enthusiasm. “We were young. We were 18, 19. We didn’t worry about things like that. We worried about getting to the nearest port and having a beer. Some things don’t change in the Royal Navy.”

His first deployment was on Atlantic convoy duties with the anti-submarine trawler HMS Butser, based at Freetown in Sierra Leone. In September 1943 he was assigned to HMS Royalist, which was just coming into service from Scotts, the shipbuilding and engineering company based in Greenock. Six months later, HMS Royalist served as the flagship for Operation Tungsten, targeting the German battleship Tirpitz at its base in Kaafjord in the far north of Norway.

There were more Arctic escort duties that spring and in July 1944 Glover was deployed with HMS Royalist to the central Mediterranean for Operation Dragoon, landing Allied forces in Provence, in the south of France. Sailing east, there were operations in the Aegean Sea and off the Greek mainland before a passage to Ceylon and service in the East Indies with 21st Aircraft Carrier Squadron. They covered the landing operations in Malaya before being present for the surrender of Japanese forces in Singapore on September 12, 1945. HMS Royalist returned to Britain the following January and Glover was discharged from the navy in May 1946 with an impressive collection of campaign medals that included the Atlantic Star, the Arctic Star and the Burma Star.

Like MacLean, Glover would forgo his daily rum tot while at sea, choosing instead to bank the threepence substitute. “It soon added up,” he recalled at the time of his 100th birthday. “And I remember my 21st birthday, although not much of it. They gave me all their drinks to take sippers from. I passed out for two days. And I had to make up all the watches I missed.”

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First publication: 16 April 2025