Robert Ivey went to sea as an apprentice aged 12 years in the era of the sailing ships. He became a Master Mariner at the age of 28 and during his 33 years at sea he sailed to ports in Europe, North & South America, India and China mostly from Liverpool and London. He was shipwrecked twice and once had to deal with a mutiny aboard.

After he retired from the sea he gained employment with the Shipwrecked Mariners Society as their first Visiting Secretary, whose job it was to travel to shipwrecks around our coast and assist those sailors who had survived. He manned the Society’s stand at many National exhibitions and subsequently managed the Society’s Sailors Home in the East End of London. 

Using the many records available the author has managed to detail the life of this very interesting and capable man.