FALMOUTH-BORN Paul Carter, who served his apprenticeship at the docks, has died in the United States after suffering a heart attack.

His ashes are being brought to Falmouth, for blessing and scattering in the harbour near the docks, on Saturday, May 7. Close family will be in attendance, after which they will go to the Watersports Centre for the wake.

Paul, who was 75, was an acclaimed and highly talented model maker who once built a superb model of the harbour tug St Denys. His brother Bill Dobson-Carter, who lives in Falmouth, said: “We are hoping to present Paul’s model of the St Denys to the National Maritime Museum Cornwall in his memory.”

Paul began his Silley Cox, shipyard apprenticeship at the age of 16, after which he joined the Merchant Navy serving with the Port Line. He met his wife, Coralie, at an officers’ party in Auckland, New Zealand. The couple married in 1963 and settled in Orange County, California, a year later.

Paul worked in aerospace engineering. He held a number of electrical connector patents, and received a medal from North American Rockwell for his contribution to NASA’s first lunar excursion. Since 2015 he and his wife lived in Madras, Oregon.

He once said: “People pass by this Earth just once, and they’re remembered as long as their kids are, but because of stuff like ([model ship building]), you might be remembered a little bit longer – and I appreciate that.”