Frank Carr became the second Director of the National Maritime Museum in 1947 following the death of Sir Geoffrey Callender the previous year. Born in Cambridge and a yachtsman from his mid-teens, he read law at Trinity Hall, Cambridge where his father taught the subject. Here, along with other students, he became a member of the Society for Nautical Research. In the 1920s he acquired a 25-ton cutter ‘Cariad’, passed the Board of Trade Yachtmaster’s (Deep Sea) Certificate and shipped on sailing barges to learn practical seamanship. In 1929 he became Assistant Librarian at the House of Lords, a position he held until 1947. During the Second World War he served in the RNVR (Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve) reaching the rank of Lieutenant-Commander. His many publications include ‘Sailing Barges’ (1931), and ‘Vanishing Craft: British Coastal Types in the Last Days of Sail’ (1934). He was instrumental in the preservation of the clipper ship ‘Cutty Sark’ at Greenwich.

He wears a grey suit, dark blue pullover, white shirt and a Royal Cruising Club tie, and holds a book on the ‘Cutty Sark’ under his left arm. In the background are the National Maritime Museum and the Old Royal Observatory. Signed and dated ‘Brenda Bury 1969’. The portrait was commissioned by the Trustees of the NMM. Brenda Bury (born 1932), was born, educated and trained in England, and is now based in Toronto.