SHARK attacks, a near drowning and exotic adventures, John Wheeler has fond memories of his time as a naval seaman.

Nearly 70 years after he joined up, Mr Wheeler spoke to Saul Cooke-Black about his time as a seaman where he travelled across the oceans of the world.

As a young boy, Mr Wheeler heard his uncle recall exciting adventures from serving on the seas from the Second World War.

Keen to get a taste of the excitement, he quickly joined the sea scouts.

But when at 17 Mr Wheeler told his family that he was joining up as a seaman in 1947, his dad was furious.

The youngster, who grew up in Stroud, had just been offered an apprenticeship in electrical engineering and was now going against his father’s wishes.

Tasked with steering the ship, painting and cleaning the deck, Mr Wheeler was soon helping to transport cargo to the Canary Islands, Brazil, Canada, Uruguay and Buenos Aires.

“There were incidents on every ship I was on,” said Mr Wheeler, 86, of Uplands, Stroud.

“On one occasion I nearly drowned when I jumped off the side of the deck to go for a swim.

“I got caught in an undercurrent and it frightened me to death.”

“I had to fight my way back to the surface.”

Seamen had to always be on the look out for sharks, as one of Mr Wheeler’s friends, Michael, learnt when swimming in Bermuda.

“He dived in and the shark went for him, taking chunks out of his arms and legs.”

Fortunately Mr Wheeler steered clear of shark attacks, although he did have one narrow escape while out at sea in East Africa.

After long days working on board, Mr Wheeler and his friends also enjoyed some exotic adventures.

Mr Wheeler remembers hitting the bars of Buenos Aires, where they had to be aware of vigilantes.

“Your passports had to be with you all the time, (otherwise) if the vigilantes came into the bars you could be taken to jail for the night, then next morning out on the streets cleaning up.”

There were also romances in the army, and many adventures.

After finishing his time as a seaman in 1950, Mr Wheeler took up a year of national service in the army.

But just the day before he was due to leave for service in Egypt, he had a roller skating accident.

“There were about six blokes who fell on me,” said Mr Wheeler, a dad of three.

After returning to Stroud, he soon took up service in the army reserves and went on to become director of Glyn Jackson Ltd for 21 years.