Bosun John Millis


Reina del Pacifico - Salamanca - George Peacock

Bosun John Millis was a proper gentleman who had his own personal stock of expensive wines on board.

One of his main jobs onboard was educating the cadets on which wines were good and which were not so good, by giving tastings.   He preferred Italian wines and food.   He also showed us menus of expensive restaurants he liked to frequent.   One of his favorite Italian restaurants was the Bella Isolla, in Soho.   The restaurant was good, I followed his advice and ate there.

I think, (my theory), that the company wanted to get rid of him and sent him to the George Peacock, hoping he would turn it down (as he could not take his cellar with him), however he accepted the job.   I do not know how long he stayed there.

I seemed to remember him saying that he retired when the Pacifico was sent off on a one way trip to Barry, but came out of retirement and joined the Salamanca as he was bored in retirement.   I sailed with him on the Salamanca and on Peacock.

I used to see the Peacock, a few years back, when it was a bunker storage vessel off Fujairah UAE.   The vessel was ideally suited for this task, as it did not have to move!

Regards,   Peter Cleife