In 2028 Andy Thomson formed a close friendship with David.

Over the last couple of years David shared many of his seafaring memories with Andy by writing some very informative and entertaining letters.

I am publishing these letters here as, having read them, I believe they bear wonderful testament to a close friendship and to the wonderful time we all experienced in our glory days.

His recollection of how the RN style braid came into use is as “The Donald” would say “fake news”.  See   The Clan Line Uniform

Clan Line had used that style of braid back in the 19th century and it endured apart from during WW2 when it was reverted to standard MN. This was done in case an officer was captured by the enemy and mis-identified as “military”.