Photo: Supplied: Ugly Hill Press
In 1942 a German U-boat approached the entrance to New York's Lower Bay - its captain surprised to see the lights of Manhattan blazing as usual.
It was just weeks since Germany had declared war on America, following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour.
The next day U-123 would attack and sink a merchant ship carrying over a million gallons of oil - of the lives lost, a New Zealander, 27-year-old Colin Watt.
His nephew and namesake, Colin Carruthers, has detailed his story in a new book: Twice Torpedoed: A Merchant Mariner's Heroic War.
It details his time plying waters around the world, delivering desperately-needed supplies to the Allies.
Colin Carruthers has had a distinguished legal career, having been appointed a Kings' Counsel in 1990 and was head of the Criminal Cases Review Commission when it was established in 2020.
He tells Kathryn why the time was right to tell his uncle's extraordinary story.
