HURLEY MARINE LTD

This page is under construction and will be used for material relating to the history of Hurley Marine Ltd. In the meantime, here's a picture of the Hurley Sail Loft.

 

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MR DOCKRELL - A REMINISCENCE

This reminiscence is from Joe Clarke, one of our American members, who has been corresponding with Nick Vass.

Mr. Dockrell was exactly like a miniature Alistair Cooke, the famous British actor. The voice was absolutely the same. Seeing Alistair Cooke hosting some shows on American T V we all immediately said " Mr. Dockrell!". I first met him in 1972 in New Jersey, driving a tractor surrounded by a few Hurleys he had just imported. He had the product (the boats) and knew it, because he knew these little seaworthy boats would sell themselves, even 35 miles away from the water in a New Jersey marsh! He was clearing a piece of land to put in a trailer home park he was building off Route 46 in Parsippanny, New Jersey. He was, I believe in his 70's or early 80's, dressed in English tweeds and a bow tie ( I never saw him any other way). I asked my father why was he in such formal attire with a bow tie, never thinking the question would be posed to Mr. Dockrell by my father. In a very gentle fashion, as he was a very gentle person in my estimation, he turned to me with those kind "never missing a thing blue eyes" and said that he worked in the factories as a young man and always wore the bow tie to avoid the machinery from catching a long tie and having a horrible accident. He never forgot me nor, do I suspect, anyone he came into contact with. Even meeting him a few years later, as he worked the New York boat show, he instantly recalled me and the 24 my father had bought. He always tried to upgrade us to the 27 but I guess it was out of our means.

Joe Clark