A remarkable tale from 1951 recounts how a Glasgow botanist, Blodwen Lloyd, was nearly left behind in the depths of the Amazon rainforest, only to be saved by the quick actions of the ship’s captain, James Binns. Their unexpected romance unfolded aboard the Hilary liner, a passenger cargo ship of the Booth Line, during a journey that would change both their lives forever.
The story begins with a delay in the vessel’s departure due to a dockers’ strike, granting Lloyd extra time to explore the world’s largest tropical forest. However, as the Hilary prepared to leave after sailing over 1,000 miles up the Amazon, a frantic search was initiated by Captain Binns when he realized she was missing. At a recent Scottish Maritime History conference in Glasgow, historian Elizabeth Allen recounted how Lloyd’s “natural charm successfully smoothed troubled waters,” leading to romance between the captain and the botanist. They married the following year, shortly after Binns’ retirement.
Captain Binns was not only a skilled mariner but also a war hero. He received the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his bravery in 1944, when he led the crew of the Booth Line merchant ship Fort La Maune to safety after it was sunk by a U-boat off the coast of Yemen, without any loss of life.
Following their marriage, the couple settled in Glasgow, where they shared ten years together until Binns’ death in 1962. Lloyd had retired from her position at the Royal Technical College, now known as the University of Strathclyde, after teaching botany and bacteriology for 36 years. At the age of 63, she returned to academia, accepting a position as professor of botany at the University of Limbe in Malawi, where she worked for an additional seven years.
During her time in Africa, despite suffering a heart attack in the jungle, Lloyd produced a comprehensive dictionary of the nation’s flora and established a national herbarium. She eventually retired again at the age of 70 but continued her botanical work, contributing to the Scouler Herbarium Collection at the University of Strathclyde and authoring a botanical dictionary in Welsh. Lloyd passed away in 1991 at the age of 89.
Allen, who has a long-standing interest in the Amazon region from her two decades of work in Latin America, noted that Lloyd embarked on her Amazon adventure after spotting an advertisement for the voyage, which she thought would be an enjoyable experience. The romance that blossomed between Binns and Lloyd was a late-in-life development that brought happiness to both, allowing them to enjoy peace after the turmoil of war.
“The Amazon is both wide and long but difficult to navigate,” Allen explained, highlighting the challenges of traversing the river due to significant fluctuations in water levels and the changing channels caused by silt and debris. For Lloyd, the journey was an enchanting experience, providing a unique view of tropical vegetation from the ship—both alluring and out of reach.
As the couple’s story illustrates, sometimes the most extraordinary encounters arise from unexpected circumstances, leading to lifelong connections and contributions to the world of science and beyond.
