JOHN Iles is honorary secretary of an organisation called DCOP (Docks Company of Pals) Cardiff which dates to 1912.

It was set up after a group of individuals ran a shipbroker’s company for a friend while he experienced a period of illness.

The organisation’s constitution read: “The members of the club pledge themselves mutually to assist one another in business and in private life, in every possible way.” John is compiling a tribute to a former member, Kenneth Thomas, who died this year, and hopes readers may be able to assist him.

Kenneth was only in his late teens when he served as third officer on the merchant ship SS Chaucer which was sunk by a German U-boat named Orion in 1941. Thankfully, there were no casualties and the crew were taken prisoner.

The Chaucer was built by Robert Duncan of Port Glasgow in 1929. John got in touch with the paper because he has been unable to track down a picture of the vessel and wonders if a reader may have one.

Originally owned by the Shakespeare Shipping Company of London, the vessel was sold to the South American Saint Line of Cardiff and she was under its flag when attacked by the Orion.

John told me it was unfortunate that the U-boat caught sight of the Chaucer as she was on her way back to a French bay in a poor condition, following being at sea for 511 days from March 1940 until August 1941.

During that time she sank 11 ships and captured one, amounting to a total of nearly 73,500 tons deadweight. For his tribute to Kenneth, John has photographs of the Orion, the prison camp where he was held and the passenger cargo liner St Essylt which he captained after the war.

Anyone who can help John get a picture of the Chaucer can contact him by email at jiles801@btinternet.com I am also happy to pass a message to John. In closing, the DCOP (Docks Company of Pals) Cardiff still has a membership of more than 60. It is now principally a dining club although the theme of friendship continues.