once more, an unplanned call into Bluff Harbour, New Zealand, to repair a damaged mast. The voyage was closely followed by the British and international press and Rose's landfall at 12.33pm in Southsea, Portsmouth, on 4 July 1968, 354 days after he set off, was met by cheering crowds of hundreds of thousands. It was 10 days before his 60th birthday. On 10 July 1968, he was made a Knight Bachelor. He was made a Freeman of the City of Portsmouth in the same year, was guest of honour at the Anglo-American Sporting Club gala evening at the London Hilton, and fêted with Lively Lady outside the Daily Mirror Building at Holborn Circus. He opened the Bamboo House Chinese restaurant in Southsea in 1968. He was granted the Freedom of the City of London in 1969. Rose's voyages are detailed in his book My Lively Lady. He wrote a children's version, Around the world with Lively Lady (1968) and another book My favourite tales of the sea (1969). After circumnavigation In 1973 Rose was given the honour of firing the starting gun for the first Whitbread Round the World Race. On 17 May 1975, he opened 5th Littlehampton Sea Scouts' HQ Gordon Hall in Lineside Way, Littlehampton, West Sussex. Rose provided the foreword for the 1980 reprint of Brouscon's Tidal Almanac of 1546. Publications My Lively Lady, November 1968, Nautical Publishing Company. . Around the world with Lively Lady, 1968, Geoffrey Chapman, London. . My favourite tales of the sea, 1969, Nautical Publishing Company, Lymington, in association with George G. Harrap & Co. . Personal life Rose was born in Canterbury and was educated at Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys. In his book My Lively Lady Rose described himself as a shy youth and a loner, fascinated by nature and the sea. He preferred to be self-employed rather than take a regular job, which allowed him to spend the time (over several years) preparing his yacht for the trans-Atlantic race. Rose and his wife Dorothy ran a greengrocer shop at 38 Osborne Road, Southsea. Alec Rose died aged 82 on 11 January 1991 at Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth. At the time of his death he was Admiral of the Ocean Cruising Club, and in an obituary Tim Heywood, a founder member and past Commodore who had known Rose since 1966, described him as the epitome of the breed of