'I was always attracted to the idea of being at sea. I liked the thought of it. The RAF was new and unknown, the Navy always appealed to me.' This was the simple response my grandfather gave me when asked why he enrolled in the Merchant Navy in 1941. He was dispatched on his first voyage in September of that year, aged only eighteen, and spent a further five years at sea. His answer paints a picture of a young adolescent; eager and naA-ve. A picture of a teenager who had an idealistic, almost romantic, depiction of naval life. It was a powerful relationship he had with the navy. It was based on a genuine fondness for the ocean, for the travel and for the force. Now today - aged 93 - the same fondness remains, albeit in a less powerful sense.