The “Stonegate” incident [1] A story of 3 ships and 3 captains in the Second World War by John Douglas, Yorkshireman and ex seafarer. Background My father and grandfather were both seamen in the Merchant Navy at the outset of the Second World War yet neither of them talked much about their experiences. It was much later that my mother provided some insight to their exploits in this period. It started with one document and two photographs: A bound copy of the London Illustrated News dated Saturday November 11 th . 1939 (1) , an original signed copy of the German pocket battleship “Deutschland” (2) and a photocopy of a newspaper cutting with the caption “Mannen med brillene er Captein Randall” (3) ! My mother handed them to me and then gave her version of events in October 1939 concerning my grandfather, Captain F.G.W. Randall, and my father Second Officer George Douglas, both on the cargo ship ...