After leaving B&C in 1981, I was selected to become an RAF Officer on the high-speed rescue craft—only for that service to be disbanded before I could receive my first appointment. I then returned to the British Antarctic Survey.

In the spring of 1982, while serving as 4th Mate aboard the Royal Research Ship Bransfield, I was assigned to transport the Island Governor, Sir Rex Hunt, and his wife back to Government House using the ship’s launch in the early hours of April 2nd. After dropping them off, we departed Port Stanley at 3:00 AM—just hours before the Argentinian invasion, which occurred five hours later.

In 1985, I worked as 1st Mate on the supply ship ITM Seafarer. Alongside regular North Sea duties, I was involved in towing a crane barge from Harland and Wolff down to the Falklands to assist with building the new port. This port allowed materials to be offloaded for the construction of the new airport there. During this time, I also experienced the “Air Bridge” a couple of times, flying from Ascension Island aboard a Hercules over the very anchorage where I had once served on the Good Hope Castle nearly a decade earlier.

As the British fleets continued to shrink, I decided it was time to leave the sea. I returned to university to train as a Chartered Surveyor, but I still enjoyed occasional summer holiday work as 1st Mate with Sealink ferries before finally “swallowing the anchor” in 1987.

Thank you, B&C, for all the life experiences you made possible.

I joined the Southampton School of Navigation apprenticeship scheme at Warsash on 13th September 1973. After completing the pre-sea course, I was appointed to the Clan Matheson and the cadet unit in 1974, departing first from Hull and later from King George V Dock in London, bound for South and East Africa and Mauritius.

Following several voyages around the Cape of Good Hope—most notably aboard the Good Hope Castle—I was seconded to the British Antarctic Survey for an extended voyage to the Falkland Islands and Antarctica. This expedition included port calls in Florida, Uruguay, and Chile, and involved supplying and relieving all British bases in the region. A memorable moment from this journey was a cocktail party with Chilean Air Force officers at one of their bases, despite the humorous challenge that none of us spoke Spanish and none of them spoke English.

I returned to British & Commonwealth (B&C) in 1977 and served until 1981, progressing from Cadet to Second Officer during the final years of the sadly declining B&C fleet. I was Second Mate on the final voyages of both Clan MacGregor and Clan Graham, which were ultimately left in Mombasa after being handed over to foreign ownership.

Beyond the strong camaraderie among shipmates, one particularly vivid memory was sailing aboard Clan MacIntosh into Lourenço Marques in 1975. We made a swift departure amid the sound of machine gun fire in the streets during the FRELIMO uprising and the expulsion of the Portuguese colonial government.

Cadet on RRS Bransfield,

secondment from Clan Line to British Antarctic Survey in 1975

3rd Officer on Dover Castle in 1978

These days…. On holiday in Scotland, home of The Clan Line

Cadet on Clan Matheson