Obituary: John William Flett, merchant seaman and veteran of the Arctic Convoys

Captain John W Flett was the youngest of eight, born in a Banffshire fishing village. His father, also John Flett, owned the first steam drifter on the Moray Firth. In winter, they mended nets in the loft of their granite house in "Finechtie", as locals call the village. The Fletts were one of three families who established the village and harbour, built when herring were plentiful and you could walk across decks from one harbour side to the other.

The sailing pedigree of John Flett included his father and four uncles, all fishermen. Two moved north, building Pultney House, overlooking Wick harbour.

The Fletts seem always to face out to sea. One Pultney grandchild, now retired (another John Flett) commanded the Salvation Army in Scotland in the 1990s. The Fletts' strong links to the sea was matched by a strong Christian, spiritual heritage. Jean, John's eldest sister, spent 40 years on Christian mission in the former Belgian Congo.

John wanted to sail but fishing was in decline so, after Buckie High School and despite aptitudes for art and football, he set off, aged 16, to the Merchant Navy Training School in London. From there he joined a shipping company and sailed as a cadet. When he reached Vancouver, he located another Flett family from Finechtie and the Scottish teenager enjoyed Canadian hospitality.

During the war John's ship was drafted into an Arctic Convoy to supply the Soviets. Between 1941 and 1945 this lifeline of 78 convoys was critical to the eastern front during the Second World War.

The allies lost 85 merchant ships and 16 warships. The 17th convoy in July 1942 was a massacre, and 24 of the 35 merchant ships were lost. The losses later inspired Valentin Pitkul to write Requiem for Convoy PQ-17 and a Norwegian novel entitled, Every Tenth Man Had to Die.

The first of John's four convoys was PQ-18, the first after the PQ-17 disaster. PQ-18 had an aircraft carrier and heavier escort resulting in the Luftwaffe losing 44 aircraft. Despite better protection, 13 of the convoy's 44 merchant vessels were lost.

John served at Dunkirk, but did not talk about it. Today we recognise battle stress among conflict personnel, but then a nation silently endured the trauma. John's mother probably knew about PQ-17; she died the following year. During a recent hospital visit to see him, he was given a picture of his mother, which he kissed.

Serving on the Commodore ship of PQ-18, John retained a copy of the Commodore's message on arrival at the White Sea. In it he gave thanks and quoted the Bible. He said that the "prayers of a thousand families" had accompanied those convoys. They braved ice and storm, U-boat attack, surface and air onslaught, but they provided vast supplies, including 3,000 tanks, for the Russian war effort.

The "Arctic Emblem" was presented by the Russians to British convoy veterans, but medal recognition is yet to come from the British government.

John started the war as a cadet and served his last convoy as Second Officer. He even organised a football match at Archangel. Visiting Edinburgh in 1946 he met Jean Scott, and their courtship began. By April 1947 they were married at Priestfield Church (Rosehall) Edinburgh.

The post-war years were joyous but frugal; Jean lived with her parents in Newington while John sailed long months at sea, though still managing to organise another football match between crews in Singapore.

John moved from the Ben Line to the Burns Laird Shipping Company, sailing from Glasgow to Belfast, Dublin and Heysham. In the 1960s, he served in the Royal Fleet Auxiliary before moving to the Forth Ports Authority during the 1970s where he captained the Abbotsgrange, the vessel that kept the channel clear on the Forth.

A heart by-pass operation meant early retirement, aged 63. His retirement allowed him to pursue his love of painting and golf. A four-generation outing to a golf range in 2009 displayed a big swing for the then 87-year-old.

John was the last of his siblings and one of the last of a generation; a quiet man - one of few words - quite refreshing in days when speech is a little more and a lot less than it used to be. For John Flett, lifestyle was the outward demonstration of inward integrity.

He had a strong faith in a living and personal Jesus Christ and was a church elder. Bill Brown, former Priestfield minister, called him, "a man of solid faith".

Failing hearing, eyesight and memory in his latter years did not diminish the twinkle in his eye and ready smile.

His is a special generation to whom we owe an incalculable debt. I liken it to an old picture in a museum in one of those pretty villages along the Moray Firth. It illustrates a harbour under construction. Massive stones form the footing, but on completion they would be hidden by silt and sea with only the harbour superstructure visible.

John Flett and those like him are these stones - men and women of faith and solid character who faced hard times, who laid strong foundations in our nation, passing on a baton, a heritage and a moral strength.

John William Flett, is survived by wife, Jean, son Douglas, daughter Angela, six grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.