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Leeds born John Hood first went to sea in 1962, serving time on cargo vessels travelling the world until he came to work on the Humber in 1978 as a Berthing Master tending to the needs of shipping using the Tetney Monobouy.

John's interest in photography began when his father gave him a 35mm camera and encouraged him to take as many photographs as he could of his travels around the world.

It was whilst working in the Persian Gulf he started to take a specific interest in photographing ships. He took a number of images of a light tender nearing retirement and thought it a good idea to keep a record of these ageing ships.

Working away from home for anything up to six months at a time proved difficult for John and his family, so he switched roles and became Berthing Master serving the Tetney Monobouy. During his full-time career with Conoco, latterly Conoco-Philips,he came into contact with a wide variety of ships. Photographing them helped him to keep a visual record of the ships and for his work any special arrangements required should they make a return journey to use the monobouy facilites once again.

The Tetney Monobouy (located about a mile and a half off Spurn Point), is an access point for oil tankers to discharge their oil into a specially constructed pipeline which travels under the water to the oil refineries at Killingholme. The Berthing Master's job is to ensure ships are controlled and are as stable as they can be in the open water to ensure the discharge procedure takes place safetly.

Many factors have to be taken into consideration during the operation; weather, tides, the control of the support vessels all have to be just right. The extremely difficult location where the operation takes place demands that extreme care must be taken. A mistake could prove costly both economically and environmentally.

Cost savings and speed are the benefits of this risky operation which also means more tankers can be dealt with at one time. Although retired from full-time work, his services are sometimes called upon to work in a part-time capacity even today.

Captain Hood's book, 'Ships on the Humber' is made up entirely of his own photographs taken between 1982 and 2002. They include many of the ships of the Hull trawler fleet. One of which is the Swanella. There are Russian river ships, roll-on, roll-off ships, passenger ferries and even the Grand Turk has sailed the waters of the Humber. The Grand Turk is a replica based on the 1741 design for the frigate HMS Blandford.

John's picture selection for his interview is a close-up of the one which graces the front cover of his book. The publishers chose the picture and upon reflection he say it was the right choice. The picture shows Grimsby's famous landmark feature, the Dock Tower. He says it's one of the finest sights to greet seamen returning to the Humber after spending weeks or even months at sea. The ship is the Cometa, a geared container vessel running into Grimsby for around twenty years.

John has hundreds of photographs and says he was in a priviledged position to take them and was able to call upon friends and colleagues to get him to good vantage points to get the right shot. He has many more photographs in his collection and hopes that there'll be call for a second volume.

The book is available online direct from At Heart publications and also in the local interest section of W.H. Smith dealers in Hull and Grimsby.