RAVEN BELL EXPORTS

My father's name was John David Baird, although he was always know as Mac even by his mother, Grandma Baird. He became a second officer in the British Merchant Navy with a first officer's ticket by the time he retired from the sea, when I was about 12. He left School at 14 and became a officer cadet in 1937, so he was 16 in the early part of World War 2. His mother told me long after his death, that he had survived torpedo attacks on three different vessels during the war years... For part of that time, he served on the route between Malta and North Africa. He never spoke about anything like that to me, only ever recounting funny stories about the war years, like running between pub's wearing a colander on his head for protection against falling shrapnel, colander where made of metal in those days. This may have been in some part due to me only seeing him for a few months during the first twelve years of my life, because he was always away at sea. However I have found that the real..

Also known as: Raven Bell Exports Ltd