Radio London tribute by Mary Payne
pp Chris and Mary Payne, Radio London Webmasters

Brian Nicholls of the Felixstowe and Offshore Radio page received the sad news of the death of Caroline's Gordy Cruse from Corey Miller. Corey informed Brian that his grandfather died suddenly on March 13th, 2026. He had not told the family that he was ill, but they had felt for some time that something was wrong.

Chris and I first met Gordon (known usually as Gord or Gordy) in August 2002, when, newly retired from 26 years at the Victoria Youth Custody Centre, Vancouver Island, he came to London to attend our 35th Anniversary Reunion. This was fairly early days as regards the internet, but increasing numbers of ex-offshore personnel had been finding their way to both the Radio London website and the Pirate Radio Hall of Fame. The 35th Anniversary of most stations closing down and Caroline continuing, was the first major reunion that Radio London had organised. Gordy was eager to meet his old shipmates, most of whom he had not seen since he broadcast from Radio Caroline North in 1967. He arrived before any other guests and was delighted to be able to spend the day reminiscing with his North Sea friends. From then onwards, Gordy, who was proud to celebrate his pirate past, always attended any offshore radio gathering that he possibly could. It would be safe to say that Gordy attended more offshore radio commemorations than anyone else and probably attended more in the UK than anyone else who was based overseas.

2002: Gordy is reunited with his pals from Caroline North. L to R, David Williams, Graham Webb, Gordy, Nick Bailey and Mick Luvzit

Gordy with pirates from all around the UK coast

The day after the 2002 Reunion. Outside Caroline House, 6 Chesterfield Gardens, Mayfair L t0 R: Gordy, Graham Webb (the man who gave him the job with Caroline) , Mick Luvzit, Kenny Tosh, Bud Ballou, John Aston. In front: Mary and Chris

In July 2004, the First North American Offshore Radio Reunion was held in Vancouver. Chris was unable to get time off work, but I was honoured to be invited. It was a fun event and all the participants were made very welcome, but sadly, the first reunion based in North America turned out to be the last.

Pirates in Vancouver. Back Row: Lorne King, Gord in his Caroline Teeshirt, Mick Luvzit, Bryan Vaughan, John Kerr. Front: Tony Prince, Ben Healy, Mel Howard and Steve Young

After the reunion proper, I remained in Canada for a while longer and Caroline's Steve Young and his wife Trish very generously allowed me to stay with them in Victoria. Gordy, who also lived in Victoria, offered to drive me around the sights of Vancouver Island for a couple of days. I was so grateful to him for spending his time with me. Gordy told me that about once a year, he would enjoy a solo camping trip into the wild parts of the island to enjoy the peace and solitude. Gordy also took me to his home and proudly showed me his 'Radio Caroline Shrine', a collection of memorabilia that he kept on display permanently.

At the end of my stay in Canada, I went out for a meal with Gordy and Steve. The Knees Club may have closed for membership in 1967, but I was prepared to make an exception for both of them to join somewhat belatedly and in return, they both grovelled on the ground to kiss my knees!

Enjoying a glorious sunset in Victoria	Gord pays homage to the Payne patellae

As I have intimated, Gordy was extremely keen to attend offshore radio events. He came to the UK for a number of them and particularly enjoyed being at the Pirate BBC Essex recreations in Harwich.

The last time we met was at the Offshore 50 Reunion, held on the static ship Tattershall Castle in London in August 2017. Gord told me, "I would like to interview some of the originals for a friend of mine who does a radio  show, called Boomertown on AM and FM in western Canada and which is also heard on the net on a weekly basis. "I explained that the ship's bridge would be the quietest place to conduct interviews. However, I never heard from Gordy if he managed to do any.

Offshore 50 was the final major reunion and we lost touch with Gordy afterwards, probably because he relied upon receiving mail via someone else's computer. However, I will always remember him and his kindness to me.

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Tribute from Caroline North shipmate Tony Prince

Gordy was one of the most lovely DJs I ever broadcast with on Caroline North. God bless his memory.

(Ray Clark interviewed Gordy for his book Radio Caroline: The True Story Of The Boat That Rocked and shared the original correspondence with the Pirate Radio Hall of Fame including a photo of Tony with Gordy.)

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Tribute from Caroline's Bryan Vaughan

That is sad news about Gordy. I never worked with him when he broadcast on Caroline but met him at the Vancouver reunion. Later he stayed with us in Sydney accompanied by his friend (maybe relative?) Marilyn Iking, who also informed me of Gordy's passing. Jean and I also had lunch with him in Victoria back in 2014. He was an avid walker who walked all over northern Sydney which is very hilly. Yet another pirate gone, there are not too many of the originals still around and still rocking!

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Tribute from Caroline's Steve Young

Quite a number of years ago, Gord was working in a location which required him to drive by our home. I could be outside of my house clipping my front hedge, Gord could've been driving by in his car and neither of us would've realised that we were both former pirates living in close proximity to each other! This went on for almost 20 years before we discovered that he was doing this. It's a small world isn't it?

I had not heard about Gord's passing, but I never would've expected to because he was a very secluded kind of guy and a complete luddite. He didn't own a computer or a mobile phone, and he pretty much kept to himself. The long and short of it is that I'd completely lost track of Gord, and he didn't contact me, so we were travelling along our own paths in our lives' journeys. 

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Tribute from Caroline North shipmate Nick Bailey

I was very sad to hear of Gordy Cruse's passing. It came as quite a shock, as I had a 2025 Christmas Card from him. We'd kept in touch ever since the Doggett's reunion in 2002 and my wife and I were meant to stay with him in Victoria three years ago during our extended trip to Canada. Unfortunately this was not to be, as at the last moment Gordy had to attend the funeral of a friend in another state. We did, however, speak on the phone quite a few times, and he seemed to be in good health, although like all of us he was rather depressed at losing so many friends. When I joined Caroline North in October 1966 as a rookie newsreader he made me feel totally at home with his easy going charm. He had a certain innocence to him, which was quite infectious.

Our friendship picked up from where it left off when we met again thirty five years later. As Steve Young has already said, he was a complete luddite, so communication with him was difficult. It's surprising for someone who'd published two books and managed to travel the world, but then that was Gordy. Infuriating as it was, in a way it was quite refreshing. Unfortunately I couldn't attend the Offshore 50 reunion in 2017, but I had a long chat with Gordy after the event, and he subsequently sent me pictures, once he was back in Canada. Since then we'd exchanged Christmas cards every year, but I had nothing in 2024, which worried me. However, I put this down to the Canadian postal strike. Therefore, I was delighted to receive Gordy's card just a few months ago. He didn't mention anything about his health, but said how glad he was to be still in touch with an old pirate colleague. I'll miss him.

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Links to comprehensive photo features of many of the reunions and events attended by Gordy:

2002 35th Anniversary Reunion in London

Vancouver Reunion 2004

General Index of Offshore Reunions

Pirate BBC Essex recreations in Harwich: 2004, 2007, 2009

The Knees Club: an attempt at an explanation

Gordy's Literary Career:

ABC Bookworld "provides extensive reference information for books and authors pertaining to British Columbia"

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