Eric John Mutton was a Gosport (Hampshire, England) lad. Born 1921 into an ordinary middle-class family, he eagerly joined the Royal Navy in 1939, being posted to India and Ceylon with the Fleet Air Arm. Post-war, Eric had various jobs, all connected with the sea. The loss of a young son in 1951 preceded a move to Dovercourt (Essex) where, in 1953, he and his wife Rene endured the North Sea flood when their home was badly damaged. This contributed...