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.