Hugh Williams was the only survivor of a vessel that sank in the Straits of Dover on 5 December 1660. One hundred and twenty-one years later to the day, another shipping disaster in the same waters claimed the lives of all on board, except a man with the seemingly charmed name of Hugh Williams. On 5 August 1820, when a picnic boat capsized on the Thames, all drowned with the exception of a five-year-old- boy – Hugh Williams. Again about one hundred and twenty years later, on 10 July 1940, a British trawler was destroyed by a German mine. Only two men survived, an uncle and a nephew, both named Hugh Williams. – in een boek over het werk van Johan Grimonprez