As a boy growing up in the Kentish town of Graves-end, Gaynam O'Brien would often traipse down to the riverbank to skim stones and watch the big ships steam towards London's docklands or the oceans. In those days, there was still a fair bit of activity on that stretch of the Thames, but it wasn't just the lure of the sea or the prospect of seeing the world that seduced him. 'As a boy I was exposed to a number of people with traditional seagoing backgrounds and the philosophy then was to get yourself a good apprenticeship.' Gaynam did, and in 1983 he began his engineering cadetship with P&O Bulk Shipping.
展开▼
