A boyhood visit to the battleship HMS Nelson left Douglas Stewart with the ambition to be a midshipman in the Royal Navy and to be in charge of a steam picket-boat with a brass funnel. The author relates how he went to sea, along with his adventures and experiences ashore and afloat during his 35 years' service under the White Ensign and the Red Ensign. Starting as a Merchant Navy cadet in the British India Steam Navigation Company at the start of World War II, he subsequently joined the Royal Navy and progressed from midshipman to lieutenant during ten years of service in eight different classes of warship.