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Ronald Niel Stuart VC DSO RD RNR (26 August 1886 – 8 February 1954) was a British Merchant Navy commodore and Royal Navy captain who was highly commended following extensive and distinguished service at sea over a period of more than thirty-five years. During World War I he received the Victoria Cross, the Distinguished Service Order, the French Croix de Guerre avec Palmes and the United States' Navy Cross for a series of daring operations he conducted while serving in the Royal Navy during the War at Sea. Stuart's Victoria Cross was awarded following a ballot by the men under his command. This unusual method of selection was used after the Admiralty board was unable to choose which members of the crew deserved the honour after a desperate engagement between a Q-ship and a German submarine off the Irish coast. His later career included command of the liner RMS ''Empress of Britain'' and the management of the London office of a major transatlantic shipping company. Following his retirement in 1951, Stuart moved into his sister's cottage in Kent and died three years later. A sometimes irascible man, he was reportedly embarrassed by any fuss surrounding his celebrity and was known to exclaim "Mush!" at any demonstration of strong emotion.〔 ==Early life== Ronald Niel Stuart was born in 1886 in Liverpool to Neil Stuart and Mary Harrison, both from experienced seafaring families.〔There is some discrepancy in the spelling of Ronald Stuart's middle name. ''The London Gazette'' and his ''Times'' obituary prefer Neil, while Stephen Snelling and the family genealogy website prefer the more unorthodox Niel. Given the range of sources the latter features in, and its preference by his own family, Niel appears to be correct.〕 Neil Sr. had been born on Prince Edward Island in Canada and had met and married Mary in Montreal. She was the daughter of a master mariner from Australia.〔 In the 1880s the family moved to Liverpool, where Stuart was born as the youngest of six children. Neil worked in the city as a dock superintendent and owner of a wholesale tea shop before dying suddenly while preparing for a return to the Merchant Navy.〔 Stuart was by this time a stocky, blonde, blue-eyed man described as "powerful" but "very bleak and penetrating".〔 He was initially educated at Shaw Street College, but following his father's death was forced to leave and take a job as a clerk in an office.〔Shaw Street College later became Liverpool College.〕 Stuart's son commented that "He hated it (job ). He hated Liverpool".〔p. 140, ''The Naval VCs'', Stephen Snelling〕 In 1902, Stuart decided to leave the city and find work in a different environment. He took an apprenticeship with the shipping company Steele & Co and was sent to learn his trade on the sailing barque ''Kirkhill''.〔 In 1905 the ''Kirkhill'' was wrecked on a rock near the Falkland Islands.〔 Stuart survived the sinking and returned to England to continue his training. He was posted to a new ship upon his return but she too was wrecked by a cyclone off the Florida coast.〔 Eventually, after several years service he achieved his mariner's qualifications and gained a job with the Allan Line as a junior officer. He then served in a variety of sailing and steam ships traveling across most of the world. In 1910, the Allan Line was taken over by the Canadian Pacific Line and he continued working with the company's new owners as a junior ship's officer. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Ronald Stuart」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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