About
The Author
With a Grandfather who was a founder member of The Honourable Company of Master Mariners and one time Principal Officer of the Board of Trade in Southampton; a father who served his time with the Aberdeen Line and together with his brother, was an RNR officer in WW2, it was perhaps inevitable that I ended up in the Merchant Navy.
My year of pre-sea training at The School of Navigation, Warsash was followed by an apprenticeship with the Royal Mail Lines. A final eight month deep sea trip with Hain Nourse encouraged me to seek new horizons which I found with the aggregate dredgers of South Coast Shipping and the offshore supply boats of Offshore Marine. With some fourteen years of command in my Discharge Book I moved into shore management, first in supply boats and then back into aggregate dredging with ARC Marine. I retired from ARC Marine / Hanson Aggregates Marine in 2005.
The 39 years which covered my first and last employment in the aggregate dredging industry saw a remarkable change in the size and sophistication of the vessels involved, which continues to this day.
I hope my web site, which I believe to be a unique record of the UK’s aggregate dredging industry, will encourage postings of contributions and corrections.
Take care out there and remember: A collision or grounding at sea could ruin your whole day
