Marriages Sep 1927   (>99%)
EMANUEL     Gwladys     GOODACRE     Cardiff     11a    782      Scan available - click to view
EMANUEL     Morfydd     FRENCH     Neath     11a    1959      Scan available - click to view
EMANUEL     Stephen J     LEWIS     Neath     11a    1927      Scan available - click to view

Births Dec 1927   
Emmanuel     
Ivor L     Lewis     Neath     11a    1275      

Born 7.Nov.1927.

In the 1940s the future for a boy from a poor working class family was clear enough: a life in the pits or the steelworks. Emmanuel's prospects were made even more dismal by the stray German bomb that killed his father, mother, sister and grandfather when he was 14.

Emmanuel, who was then brought up by his aunt Flossie, became a miner and then a steelworker, developing his singing with the Pontrhydyfen Operatic Society in a period when even a modest mining village might have substantial cultural ambitions. From time to time he would walk off into the countryside with his wind-up gramophone to listen to recordings of Caruso.

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In 1950 he got into the chorus of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and then - advised by Burton, legend has it - he got a part in Oklahoma at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. He was ideal for roles in those US musicals - strong, good-looking with dark, wavy hair and a powerful baritone voice. He was to play in many of them, including South Pacific and the King and I, but he did not get leading roles and it turned out to be his Welshness that unexpectedly brought him national recognition.

HMS Sylph

       On Saturday 22nd January 1927 HMS Sylph, an ‘R' Class destroyer built in Govan by Harland & Wolff in 1917, set off from Devonport towed by the tug ‘Warrior’, destined for Cashmore’s ship breaking yard in Newport. Stormy weather forced the ships to shelter in Plymouth Roads on the Sunday, and the voyage recommenced the following day. Weather conditions remained foul however and, off the Pendeen Light, the towrope parted and the destroyer went adrift with her crew of four ex-navel men aboard. Another rope was passed to the ‘Sylph’, but that also parted, and the destroyer drifted up channel abreast of Lundy, where the tug managed to get yet another rope across. Off Bull Point the towrope parted again leaving the ‘Sylph’ to the mercy of the wind and seas.

      Finally, on Thursday 27th January, after fears of grounding on Oxwich Point, the destroyer managed to drop anchor in Oxwich Bay and the ‘Warrior’ went into Swansea for supplies. Returning that night another attempt was made to reach Newport, but the towrope parted off Port Talbot and, in the early hours of Friday morning, the destroyer begin to drift ashore in the raging gale. The tug stood by to render assistance but, with no towropes remaining, the Captain could only try to get the crew off the destroyer. Several times he ranged alongside the ‘Sylph’ but was unable to maintain the ‘Warrior’s position due to the heavy seas. Both vessels were now perilously close to the beach, and the tug was forced to sheer off to avoid going ashore

     As soon as it became apparent that the ‘Sylph’ would run aground, the Port Talbot rocket life-saving apparatus team was ordered out to assist. Driven by the gale-force wind, the destroyer finally pitched ashore on Aberavon sands about a mile and a half from the North Pier. When the LAS team arrived at the scene, two rockets were fired but the wind was too strong and they were swept away. The team managed to get a line aboard the ‘Sylph’ once the tide had receded but, in the mean time, one of the crew had got over the side and half swam half scrambled ashore. The remaining three crew members were rescued a little later. A letter of thanks was sent to the Port Talbot LAS team who had worked waist deep in the stormy sea throughout this rescue.

       ( Note -  HMS ‘Sylph’s displacement was 975 tons. She was never refloated after the above incident, and was broken up for scrap on Aberavon Beach.).