Derek Gardner was born in 1914 and after leaving school in 1931 he studied to become a civil engineer.

He received no formal art training but had a lifelong interest in all matters relating to ships and the sea; an interest which sprang from earlier days in Glasgow where his father was the Chief Engineer of the Port of Glasgow and the Clyde Navigation Trust. In his younger days he read Southey's Life of Nelson, which sparked what was to become a lifelong interest in the broad scope of naval history, particularly the French wars of the 18th and early 19th centuries.

In 1934 he joined the Clyde Division of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and later served throughout the war in the Royal Navy. In 1942 he was mentioned in...