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{{Short description|Royal Navy officer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2021}}
{{Use British English|date=December 2022}}
[[File:The officers of HM Submarine SERAPH on her return to Portsmouth after operations in the Mediterranean, 24 December 1943. A21112.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|alt=Photograph of five men in uniform on the deck of HM Submarine Seraph|The officers of {{HMS|Seraph|P219|6}}, on board the Royal Navy submarine in December 1943. Jewell, the commanding officer, is second from the right.]]
Captain '''Norman "Bill" Limbury Auchinleck Jewell''' [[Order of the British Empire|MBE]] [[Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom)|DSC]] (24 October 1913 – 18 August 2004) was an [[Officer (armed forces)|officer]] in the [[Royal Navy]].

As commander of the submarine [[HMS Seraph (P219)|HMS ''Seraph'']], Jewell was involved in one of the most vital acts of deception of the [[Second World War]]. The story of [[Operation Mincemeat]], as the plan was known, became the subject of several books and was made into the 1956 film ''[[The Man Who Never Was]]''.

== Early life ==
Jewell was born on [[Mahé, Seychelles|Mahé in the Seychelles]] on 24 October 1913 where his father was a doctor and a [[Colonial Service|colonial officer]]. His father left his family in the Seychelles to join the [[British Army]] in East Africa during the [[First World War]]. At the end of the war, the family moved to Kenya and Jewell was sent to [[Preparatory school (United Kingdom)|prep school]] in England and finally [[Oundle School]] before joining the Navy in 1936.

== Naval career ==
Jewell served on [[Odin class submarine|HMS ''Osiris'']] and [[HMS Otway|HMS ''Otway'']], and in November 1940 joined [[HMS Truant (N68)|HMS ''Truant'']] commanded by Lt-Cdr Haggard, who was constantly seeking the enemy and was something of a mentor to Jewell. On one occasion Haggard disobeyed orders not to approach within 15 miles of [[Tripoli, Libya|Tripoli]] but in fact penetrated a dense [[Naval mine|minefield]] by following an Italian minelayer. Six months later he led battleships of the [[Mediterranean Fleet]] through the same minefield to bombard Tripoli.

On 27 May 1942, Jewell took command of [[HMS Seraph (P219)|''Seraph'']] and its 44-man crew, little realising what part it would play in naval history.

''Seraph'' was chosen to take the American General [[Mark W. Clark|Mark Clark]] and his staff to talks with [[Vichy France|Vichy French]] officers in [[French Algeria|Algeria]]. This was known as [[Operation Flagpole (World War II)]]. On 19 October Jewell landed Clark's party in small collapsible canoes about 50 miles west of [[Algiers]], with three members of the British [[Special Boat Section]] paddling them in. ''Seraph'' spent a day lying submerged in deep water but, after dark, Jewell took her in until there was less than 10 ft of water under the keel. The sea was too rough to recover the boats from the beach so Jewell took ''Seraph'' in until she was almost aground. Clark and his party then dashed for the boats, paddled hard through the surf, and were hauled on board; ''Seraph'' reached [[Gibraltar]] on 25 October.

==Operation Mincemeat==
{{Main|Operation Mincemeat}}
His most famous mission was Operation Mincemeat, widely regarded as one of the most successful disinformation exercises of the war. The intention was to deceive the Germans about Allied intentions to invade Italy in 1943. It became the subject of several books, and two films, ''[[The Man Who Never Was]]'' and ''[[Operation Mincemeat (film)|Operation Mincemeat]]''.

As part of the ruse, [[William Martin (Royal Marine officer)|a corpse]] in a [[Royal Marines]] Major's uniform, with a briefcase stuffed with "secret" papers containing disinformation chained to its wrist, was used. The body was transported in a metal container packed with dry ice by Bill Jewell in his submarine. On 30 April 1943, just off the port of [[Huelva]] in Spain, Jewell surfaced. He had never performed a burial at sea, but aptly chose [[Psalm 39]] (..."I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me").

==Later career and retirement==
In 1948, Jewell became Captain 3rd Submarine Flotilla. He was a director of the [[Royal Naval College, Greenwich|RN Staff College]] at [[Greenwich]] and also worked on [[Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma|Mountbatten's]] staff. He retired in 1963, and worked for the [[Mitchells & Butlers|Mitchell and Butler]] brewery in [[Birmingham]], where he was also life president of the [http://www.submarinersassociation.co.uk/ Submarine Old Comrades' Association].

== Awards and decorations ==
*[[Mentioned in dispatches|MiD]]<ref>{{London Gazette | issue = 35242 | date = 12 August 1941 | page = 4649 | supp = y }}</ref> (1941)
*[[Order of the British Empire|MBE]]<ref>{{London Gazette | issue = 35915 | date = 23 February 1943 | page = 935 | supp = y }}</ref> (1943)
* [[Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom)|DSC]]<ref>{{London Gazette|issue = 36474|date = 18 April 1944|page = 1776|supp = y}}</ref> (1944)
* [[Legion of Merit]]<ref>{{London Gazette|issue = 36762|date = 24 October 1944|page = 4872|supp = y}}</ref> (1945)
* [[Croix de guerre 1939–1945 (France)|Croix de Guerre with Palm]] (1946)

==Personal life==
Jewell married, at [[Pinner]], [[Middlesex]], in July 1944 Rosemary Patricia Galloway, a [[Women's Royal Naval Service|WRNS]] cipher officer.<ref name=opmince1>{{cite book|title=Operation Mincemeat, the true spy story that changed the course of World War II.|last=Macintyre|first=Ben|year=2010|page=[https://archive.org/details/operationminceme0000maci/page/323 323]|isbn=978-1-4088-0921-1|url=https://archive.org/details/operationminceme0000maci/page/323}}</ref> They had met at [[Algiers]] when she was stationed there after arriving in port after his part in Operation Mincemeat.<ref name=opmince2>{{cite book|title=Operation Mincemeat|pages=275–277}}</ref> The couple remained married, until her death 53 years later.<ref name=opmince1 /> Their two sons and a daughter survived him.

== Death ==
In 1998, when he was 85, Jewell suffered a serious fall and was paralysed from the neck down. He spent the remainder of his life at the [[Royal Star and Garter Home]], [[Richmond, London|Richmond]]. He died on 18 August 2004 aged 90.

== References ==
{{Reflist}}
* [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1470038/Captain-Bill-Jewell.html Captain Bill Jewell] – ''The Daily Telegraph'', 24 August 2004
* [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/capt-bill-jewell-550356.html Captain Bill Jewell, Daring Naval Officer] – ''The Independent'', 27 August 2004

==External links==
* [http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/80012013 Imperial War Museum Interview]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jewell, Bill}}
[[Category:1913 births]]
[[Category:2004 deaths]]
[[Category:People educated at Oundle School]]
[[Category:Royal Navy officers of World War II]]
[[Category:Royal Navy submariners]]
[[Category:Royal Navy submarine commanders]]
[[Category:Naval history of World War II]]
[[Category:Operation Mincemeat]]
[[Category:Members of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom)]]
[[Category:Legionnaires of the Legion of Merit]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1939–1945 (France)]]
[[Category:People from Mahé, Seychelles]]

Bill Jewell - Revision history

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