On Monday 6 November, we welcomed Old Viking Titus Drummond (75E) for the latest Scholars’ Masterclass. Recently nominated last year under the Charity or Community Champion category for the inaugural Old Viking of the Year awards, Titus came to talk to our scholars about his time catching pirates off the coast of Africa.
It’s fair to say that Titus’ life to date has been an interesting and varied one! In 2022, not only did Titus raise £10,000 to purchase aid for Ukraine, but he also made several trips across the Ukrainian boarder to personally deliver it to those affected by the Russian-Ukraine war. However, in this Masterclass, he was here to talk about his previous adventures with the Royal Fleet Auxiliary and how this led to him catching pirates.
In his talk, Titus spoke about how he always yearned for adventure and new experiences. He has previously served in the Army, looked after birds, and has even worked as a full-time firefighter. However, to be an adventurer and to be able to explore different places, you need money. This led to Titus studying at college to be a merchant navy radio officer which was not only a well-paid job, but also one that granted long periods of leave to explore and have adventures. When the ship would come into port, Titus was effectively offline and would then be able to explore countries such as Costa Rica, Oman, Australia, and many more.
This led Titus to joining the military branch that is the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, specifically part of a task force that would locate and capture pirates in Somalia. One notable case that Titus worked on which he shared with the audience was the case of the cargo ship, the Montecristo, which was hijacked by pirates. With the crew safe within a secure and armoured area, British and US navies each sent a ship to the Montecristo’s location where the pirates were taken into custody. Titus also spoke of another case where a ship had been hijacked and used as a ‘mothership’. In this case, it was difficult to tell who was crew and who was pirate. In both cases, Titus' role was in electronics and communications.
Titus' stories and adventures are inspirational in their nature and our scholars were extremely lucky to have the opportunity to hear about some of these experiences. While he may not have actively encouraged our pupils to follow in his footsteps, Titus' Masterclass is sure to get pupils thinking of what life could be beyond the classroom.
