This is my father's story, a seaman in peace and war, whether facing giant waves and hurricane-force winds, clinging to a wildly gyrating deck on anti-submarine and convoy escort patrols or nursing tiny, old unarmed steamers through darkened waters with nerves strung tight, waiting for a sudden bomb blast or torpedo explosion which would end the ship's life. It is the story of vital missions by merchant ships in the First World War to feed Britain through "the gravest danger that has ever faced the Empire" and in the second to maintain a fragile lifeline of supplies to neutral Ireland with a few tiny unarmed old ships, protected only by large Irish flags painted on their decks and hull.