... possessed by too powerful a drive, too unrelenting a desire to push himself front and centre, shouldering everyone else aside," said his great friend Robert Hunter. Watson sailed with Greenpeace many times, and skippered one of its boats in 1972. But he severed all links with the organisation in 1977, after being expelled from the Greenpeace board. He set up Sea Shepherd in 1981; today, it has 45...

... no space for heroics. Having no-one to discuss options with, or to delegate to, requires discipline and confidence in ones own seamanship, and the ability to keep a level head when the pressure is on. Having skippered for thousands of sea miles, I know how vital it is to keep the crew cheerful and confident when the going gets tough…and perhaps the most difficult job I’d faced up to now had been ...