In June 1901 my grandfather, Ernest Haylett, at the age of thirty, was awarded his Certificate of Competency as master of a 'foreign-going ship'. This, my father pointed out with some pride, meant that Ernest could captain a sailing ship, such as the clipper ship
Hesperus or Lord Brassey's yacht
Sunbeam, on both of which he served, as well as a steam ship.
The certificate was by that time rather well-worn so my father had it mounted between two sheets of glass so that....
....both the back and the front of the certificate could be seen. The back is interesting because it records that Ernest was living in Caister at the time, at 2 Gordon Terrace, before he and his family moved to East London.
My father gave me the certificate and it has hung on a dark wall ever since, dark in order to prevent it fading still further.
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