Island Life Magazine Ltd February/March 2011 | Page 71

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Island Life - February/March 2011

Jonathan pictured at a Passing
Out Parade at HMS Raleigh, as
the Captain he had the privilege
of welcoming a new group of 60
sailors into the Royal Navy every
week.

Jonathan's amazing journey both at sea and on dry land
Commodore Jonathan Woodcock
OBE is not quite sure why he chose
a career that kept him at sea for so
long, bearing in mind he used to get
seasick sailing in and out of Bembridge
Harbour.
But he eventually overcame that
inconvenience to engage in a profession
that has seen him travel the world
and become an integral part of the
Royal Navy, serving on some of the
most iconic ships of the modern era,
including HMS Ark Royal and the Royal
Yacht Britannia.
Commodore Woodcock was born
in Sandown in 1962, and moved to
St Helens shortly afterwards. He was
educated at Ryde School and admits:
“I had a wonderful time there. The
education set me up for what I wanted

to do.
“I learned to play the violin, and
played a lot of music in those days, as
well as doing some public speaking,
but I didn’t do much sport. Even so we
never used to let our parents take us
away on holidays because we preferred
sailing our Solent Scows from the
Brading Haven Yacht Club. It is nice to
see that the Solent Scow class is still
sailing.
“I used to love sailing, but it did make
me horrendously seasick, even sailing
my own boat, so I am not quite sure
why I chose the Navy.”
He stayed on the Island until he
was 18, and then joined Britannia
Royal Naval College Dartmouth as a
Midshipman. From there he moved to
the Royal Naval Engineering College

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at Manadon. After four years of study
and with a degree and officer training
behind him, he joined his first ship,
HMS Exeter, as the Deputy Marine
Engineering Officer.
Since then Commodore Woodcock has
undertaken a variety of sea-going and
shore-based appointments, including
the position of Electrical Officer on
Her Majesty’s Yacht Britannia. He also
found himself on a NATO exchange
appointment in British Columbia
working with Canadian and US forces
in the Pacific. A spell as Marine
Engineering Officer on HMS York
followed, where he joined and left the
ship during operational deployments to
the Gulf.
Despite his many tours of duty,
Commodore Woodcock returned to
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