When* the Scaramanga brothers entrusted a few thousand pounds worth of ship and cargo and a good percentage of their fortune to Captain Joseph Francis of Eryl, Dinas, you’d expect them to mention a few do’s and don’ts. The letter confirming his appointment is typed in purple on ivory paper and the contents, while acknowledging pressures of time, seem very reasonable.

I don’t suppose that his employers ever knew how much he hated being at sea and that he was just working to accumulate enough money to leave his job and retire early to live full-time in Dinas again.

*This was at the end of a year when German U boats had been sinking an average of 2 ships a day in the ‘commerce war’ but there is no mention of the war in this letter.