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. First World War At the outbreak of World War I Stuart was called up to service, as an officer in the Royal Naval Reserve. He was originally posted as a junior officer on board the old and obsolete destroyer HMS Opossum in Plymouth. This ship was used for harbour patrols and intercepting neutral merchant ships and other work Stuart considered tedious. He became increasingly impatient with the life and repeatedly applied to his senior officers with requests for transfer; at one point he even requested that he be commissioned into the army. All of these were turned down, with increasing levels of hostility from his commanders, one of whom was reported to have told him to "Go to hell! And shut the door behind you!" HMS Farnborough In the spring of 1916 he was transferred as first lieutenant to a Q-ship under Gordon Campbell. A Q-ship was a merchant ship with hidden weaponry, commanded secretly by the navy and manned by a Royal Navy crew. When attacked by a submarine, the Q-ship would feign damage until the enemy was close enough to engage and then reveal its weapons to counter-attack. Campbell, a major proponent of Q-ship strategy, was impressed with Stuart's stubborn refusal to accept the two years of rejection and brought him in to replace an officer whose nerves had cracked under the strain of Q-ship operations. Stuart's experience in merchant shipping proved invaluable to his work and he soon had the crew of Q5 (also known as HMS Farnborough) disciplined and the ship well maintained and run. Campbell himself was very pleased with his executive officer, declaring him "on the top line". Stuart and Campbell later fell out over Stuart's