Thanks for that Ysgolfach. Think they both worked on the cargo ships, both great characters.
The "London Valour" tragedy was before my time with the company but it has come to mind lately with the Costa Concordia trials beginning. I met the 2nd Mate from the Valour, a Cardiff lad, and he was the "last man standing", so to speak, and, as far as the Italian authorities were concerned, it was down to him! Luckily he'd left the country by then, but he couldn't return to Italy because he'd have been thrown in prison. If more folk had died, the Italians would have worked their way down the crewlist to find someone to pin it on.
Thanks again and welcome to SN.
John T