The author has been a military and naval history enthusiast from an early age. Having study Classical Civilisation at college, he first worked for the wargames company Games Workshop, before changing direction and becoming a market trader and finally a software developer. Being an early adopter of the World Wide Web he became an active member of a group of naval historians intent on expanding the availability of information on naval history. He is a contributor to several naval history sites and forums, which has led to him founding the naval history website ‘Three Decks - Warships in the Age of Sail’, https://threedecks.org in 2010. He remains the owner and editor in chief of the site, which now has contributors from around the globe.