A CHARMED LIFE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18322, 12 August 1921, Page 6

A CHARMED LIFE

THE WINNER OF A £69,000 SWEEP

Forty-four years ago little T. Alban Jones, the seven-year-old son of a Welsh sea captain, while playing at.Llanon, near Aberystwyth, fell 60ft from the top of the cliff to the beach. It was one of his lucky days. He was hurt so little that ho went to school next day. ' On Wednesday Captain T. Alban Jones, D. 5.0., R.N. (retired), won the first prize in the Calcutta sweep on the Derby, worth £69,000. It was another of his lucky days. Three years ago on Wednesday he received the D.S.O. That was also one of his lucky days. The day on which he won the Calcutta sweep was also the day on which he took up his post at the East India Docks as assistant marine superintendent to the Union-Castle Line.

“You must be living a charmed life,” said Admiral Duff on one occasion during the war, when Captain Alban Jones, commodore commanding the convoy from Liverpool to Port Said, performed his usual feat of leading his- convoy in less than scheduled time without the loss of a ship, in spite of U boats. Earlier in the war—at midnight on August 12, 1915—a Zeppelin dropped three bombs on the Admiralty pier at Dover, where Captain Jones was naval transport officer. One fell within a few yards of Captain Jones. He was not hurt.

“I must finish my work; I cannot see you now, indeed,’’ said Captain Alban Jones, when a Daily Express representative called at his office near the East India Docks. Captain Jones had a pen in his hand, and lie resumed his writing. It was not until the day’s business was over that he had a word to spare about the Calcutta sweep. This is how Captain Jones became the owner of the lucky number. For some years members of the Union-Castle Line staff at the docks have taken tickets in the sweep. About two months ago Captain Jones, who was to succeed the retiring assistant superintendent, _ went down to Blackwell to make acquaintance with the office. He was offered a ticket, and replied that he had never done such a thing in nis life. However, when the custom of the thing was explained, he took a ticket just to show a friendly spirit, paid 14s for it, and put it in his waistcoat pocket. ‘I forgot all about St,” said Captain Jones, “but one day I was rung up on the telephone, and told that I had drawn, a horse—Humorist, —and that I had the chance of winning thousands. I said that I believed I had tern the ticket up and thrown it away while out shopping with Mrs Jones. I went on with my work., When I got home I found the ticket in my portmanteau. “I know nothing about racing, and I did not read anything about the Derby in the newspapers. I declined to go into a 5s sweep at the private hotel at which I arn staying. I did not go to the Derby. It was my day for ‘ taking over ’ here, and I was at work when the telephone rang and I was told that Humorist had won. I finished mv day’s work, and went to the hotel fer dinner. Those who had been to the Derby ivere in good spirits at dinner, and I listened with amusement to what they said about the race. After dinner I went out and listened to the band in Hyde Park for an hour before going to bed. “This morning, at breakfast, someone opened a newspaper, and exclaimed: ‘ Why, a Londoner, a Mr Stark, has won the Calcutta sweep!’ I i'oplifd: “Mr Stark has not won it.’ ‘Oh,’ said someone, ‘did you win it?’ and I said: ‘I will give you a plain answer —I did win it.’ In a moment it was all over the house, and I was out of the house. I had written the night before to tell my little daughter, who is at school at Twickenham, that I had won something that would go towards buying a two-seater.” Captain Alban Jones went to sea in a sailing ship when he was 15. He has been with the Union-Castle Lino since 1897. In 1903-4 he served 12 months afloat in the navy and six months in gunnery and torpedo quarters. It was for his convoy work that ho received the D.S.O. “Well, I am -not giving up my work,’ - said Captain Jones, with a smile, when he was asked what he would do with his £69,000.