Geoffrey John Allen (1966)

Obituary

This week we gathered at the Port Elizabeth crematorium to say our farewells to Geoff Allen, a longtime The Herald and Sunday Times journalist who made a name for himself in this city.
He was schooled at Grey High. After a time in the South African Naval Gymnasium doing his national service at the Cape, he went on to Rhodes.
Well, he would not have missed joining the navy. His father, Charles Allen, had a distinguished record in the Second World War and played a large part in the administration of SAS Donkin over many years.
Commander Allen and his wife, Peggy, were important figures in naval circles and it was hardly surprising that their two sons, Geoffrey and David, took a keen interest in the sea.
As it happened, Geoff turned to journalism. At Rhodes University, Grahamstown, he became quite a lively – and colourful – character on the campus.
He favoured tweeds and waistcoats and heavily-punched brogues, giving sometimes the impression that he needed a man like Jeeves to polish those shoes. But Geoff, Hugh felt, made a good job of keeping them smart.
After university, Geoff made his initial foray into journalism at The Herald and soon proved himself adept not only in writing but also in photography, too.
Matters maritime absorbed him and he soon won two awards in his coverage of a major tanker disaster. Later he managed to discover a major – and lucrative – crayfish bed.
Certainly, a lively character like Geoff was not to stay long in Port Elizabeth. He was appointed to our company‘s London bureau where he gained the training and experience which was to bring him home as bureau chief of the Sunday Times in the Eastern Cape.
This was the time that his brother, David, with associate Gerry van Niekerk, made the extraordinary discoveries of the Sacramento wreck at Sardinia Bay, near Schoenies, and the astonishing recovery of Robert Clive‘s lost treasure on Bird Island in Algoa Bay.
These were sensational events, discoveries which attracted huge international interest. But tragedy befell the Allens when David died on the beach off which he and his team had salvaged the haul of bronze cannon from the 1647 wreck of the Sacramento.
The salvage stirred huge international interest. Portuguese President Mario Soares made an expedition to the site.
Later, Geoff turned to other, less stressful work, becoming a diligent worker for the Community Chest.
He died last week.
The funeral was conducted by Canon Roy Snyman and was attended by Geoff‘s sisters and their children, by Commander Keith Adams, by former colleagues in journalism and Community Chest staff.
Tennyson‘s poem, Crossing the Bar, was read.
Geoff deserves a safe harbour and a warm welcome from those who, like him, loved the sea, its adventures and its challenges.
His friends at The Herald will remember him.
Certainly the Allen family have added much to Port Elizabeth‘s nautical history.
Geoff was right to record his brother and Van Niekerk‘s extraordinary discoveries.
They enriched our local lore and solved some long-lost mysteries.
The story was published by John Garton of London.

Weekend Post - 17 April 2009 - Hugh Baakens