Born in a village on the moors in West Yorkshire, as far as possible in the UK from the sea, career advisors there pushed us into mining textiles or engineering. I didn't fancy either. My Dad's brother was a Captain in Shell Tankers, but dissuaded me from going to sea, so I lived in the jungle in Nigeria for 6 months as a shore-based account chemist for Shell.

Yet the sea was calling my name and I joined the shipping company Denholms in Glasgow as an indentured apprentice in 1963. My career progressed and I became Captain of various ships from 500T to 250000t in the 80's including tankers, gas carriers, chemical tankers, cargo passenger ships and container ships.

Having been there and done that, I worked ashore as a superintendent for a major shipping company and held many senior positions within the UK Port Industry , including being on the British Port Industry training board as a Stevedoring Adviser.

My wife is French so we moved to France where I met Keith Wilkinson a fellow Yorkie who has been with bluewater for many years. So here I am.

I enjoy teaching and passing my knowledge on. I get excellent results and am popular with the candidates. I even taught personnel in bluewater and am an examiner for AMERC and have regional exam status for bluewater re. AMERC.

I enjoy bluewater - no bull, no frills, good reputation, and nice people. Good luck to all in the future.

My Motto: Forget about yesterday, don't think about tomorrow, live for today.