A large part of my life has been devoted to seafaring as an officer in both the Merchant and Royal Navy. My world was once the oceans and countries along their respective coastlines. The sea was a way of life for me, a gateway to the many moods of the oceans. The sea opened many horizons and moulded me in its ways in both her discordant and peaceful dispositions.

“Foaming crests stretched into marble streaks,

A dipping prow plunging into deep troughs

Scantlings shaking and rattling,

Bursts of salty spray drenched the decks.

An unnerved crew shelter white knuckled,

Fearful of the brutal tempest’s bite,

Roaring! Roaring!”

– Richard Kinsella, Whispers in the Night

In retirement I put my experiences into tales that describe a family of shipowners circa 1905 when sophisticated transatlantic liners ruled the North Atlantic routes and carried the very rich and migrants hoping for a new life in America.

My stories then move on from this bygone age through two world wars at sea and the dire consequences brought to those families whose loved ones made the ultimate sacrifice so we could live in peace and democracy.

“A sickbay bunk holds a wounded sailor

Legs encased in plaster,

Through a glass scuttle

Across the empty room

Grey skies turn

To Neptune’s emerald

The deck dips deeper

Each time deeper and deeper,

Then fails to recover,

She’s going down,

Down into the deep,

My ship is dying.”

– Richard Kinsella, Whispers in the Night

I would like to think of The Creswell Family Trilogy as a very small contribution to those who sacrificed their lives for our freedom and have earned from successive generations their deepest respects.

Get your copy of the first instalment in The Creswell Family Trilogy HERE!