HQS Wellington, another very good friend to Maritime Films UK, has honoured us by commissioning a film for their latest exhibition, opening in May – ‘Abandon Ship!’ This will particularly focus on the story of two merchant ships sunk in the First and Second World Wars. From the First, the refrigerated cargo liner the Otaki, sunk in 1917 in the Eastern Atlantic by an armed merchant raider after an heroic action (with just one gun – picture) to try and beat the heavily armed German ship off. The Otaki’s Captain, Archibald Bisset-Smith, fell in the action but was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross – one of only two in the Merchant Navy so honoured. He had to be enrolled, again after his death, in the Royal Naval Reserve in order to receive his VC, as it is for armed forces personnel only.