Dr. Ruddock Finlay Mackay (1922-2019) was born in Auckland, New Zealand and served as a rating in the Royal New Zealand Navy between 1942 and 1946, initially aboard the armed merchant cruiser HMS Monowai. He studied whilst serving and graduated with a degree in History. He obtained MAs at both London and Oxford Universities and became a schoolmaster in both New Zealand and England. Between 1954 and 1965 he was a lecturer in naval history at Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, and later he lectured in Modern History at St. Andrew’s University, Scotland.