Click below to download the poem by Partick Hamilton.

Ships' Names by Patrick Hamilton (9mb)

Seeing the letter from an old 15th  Cruiser Squadron contemporary, Sir Louis Le Bailly, I am minded to send you the enclosed disc that has sometimes brought tears to the eyes of a lot of old hands. I wrote it about 40 years ago in a fit of nostalgia and hoped it might find a place in last year's Trafalgar Day celebrations ‑but I was too late in sending it to the BBC who said they would love to have had it if it had come to them earlier.

I send it not in the hope that you will give the contents space but that there may be a way through your columns to tell how to access it on the internet ‑ something I am sure you will know how to do more easily than  I. It is already there through the Dido network but I have no idea how to get to it!

I served in Dido for over 2 years 1942‑44, was sunk in Lively and ended up as Navigator of the Flower class Velch, For the past 30 years I have been a professional painter and am slowly off‑loading a host of old work by way of ebay. Now that I am 83 there is not much new stuff coming out ‑ but you never know, there may come a whole new lease of life.

et me know if you think anything can be done with the disc ‑ I would like it back if you have no use for it.