OROTHY Evans Coquillon is one of the proudest ladies I know. Especially when she has the chance to recall family members who are war veterans.

She starts with her father, Walter Sydney Knight Evans, who served with the British Merchant Marine and Royal Navy in the First World War.

Sister Patricia's husband, Charles Dornhorst, served throughout World War Two in the Merchant Navy with the , which became a major troop ship.

Brother Harold was in the Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps before volunteering for overseas service in the Second World War with the Royal Air Force. Younger brother Stanley was not called up, only because, even by the end of the War, he was still too young.

You can almost feel her depth of patriotism when Dorothy produces from her handbag a well-preserved, velvet-lined, glass-enclosed, highly-polished wooden case displaying her father's medals earned in the First World War.

Though serving throughout with the Royal Navy, Sydney was not a member of it, but part of a vital auxiliary. Before the First World War he had decided on a career in the Merchant Navy. He was a senior member of the crew of the S.S. of the Cunard Line in 1914 when it and many other merchant ships were seconded to the Royal Navy.

The vital role of these merchant ships was to transport supplies and, during battle, assist in saving lives of men whose ships either were severely damaged or sunk.

Like most war veterans, Sydney probably did not have too much to say about his front-line experiences. Consequently, there was little at this late stage his family was able to remember.

, one enormous historic fact stood out. He was a surviving veteran of the famous Battle of Jutland in 1916, properly described as the great naval battle of all time.

During a naval attack, the merchant ships closely followed the fighting ships. What a marvellous eyewitness account Sydney could have given us.

Following two early British North Sea victories ? the Battle of Heligoland Bight in 1914 and the Battle of Dogger Bank in 1915 ? both the British and German Navies were primed for something far bigger in 1916.

Britain had the larger navy. Strategy included trying to blockade the Germans by preventing them from penetrating the North Sea en route to the open Atlantic Ocean in order to intercept and sink Allied ships heading to and from Allied ports.

Prior to the Battle of Jutland, the Royal Navy received a fateful piece of intelligence. Some English East Coast fishermen discovered an apparently discarded German naval code book enmeshed in their nets.

It gave the whereabouts of the German warships and was handed on to a grateful Winston Churchill, the First Lord of the Admiralty. Both sides prepared for a showdown. At the time, communications between ships in battle could be difficult.

They had to rely on flag signals, requiring coding and decoding, which could result in the loss of valuable time in critical situations. A partial solution was the use of fewer flags and dispensing with some coding in emergencies.

The Battle of Jutland began in the early morning of May 31, 1916, continued through the night and all the following day. More than 250 warships faced each other. In addition, there were submarines and the merchant ships.

Jutland was about equidistant from Southern Norway, Denmark and the northwest tip of Germany.

Two of the greatest First World War admirals were in command. Admiral Sir John Jellicoe led the Royal Navy's Grand Fleet. Admiral Reinhart Scheer, an aggressive sailor, commanded the Germans. He tried to outmanoeuvre the British force.

In the end, Britain won but at a far greater cost in lives. Britain lost 6,074 as against 2,551 Germans.

Although a limited amount of air power was available at Jutland, weather and probably strategic decisions prevented their use.

The advent of advanced air power in World War Two made it certain that naval battles of the magnitude of Jutland would never be seen again.

the war, Sydney Evans resumed his merchant marine career with the Cunard Line. Some years later, he joined Furness, Withy.

Partly due to ill health of his wife, Eileen, in 1933, he requested a transfer to the New York-Bermuda service, arriving in Bermuda on the Queen of Bermuda's maiden voyage.

There is a note of destiny in the Evans' family settling in Bermuda. When the was being built at Barrow-on-Furness, Sydney Evans had been retained as a consultant for catering staff and equipment.

He went on to serve with the as its Chief Steward.

The , also seconded to the Royal Navy in the Second World War, became a troopship.

On a personal note, I was one of more than 5,000 troops transported by the from England to North Africa in 1943. The ship's great speed enabled it to travel without escort.

Could I have possibly been the last 'passenger' to sail with the ? I have often wondered.