Steve Pellow, a well-known figure on Falmouth’s waterfront for half a century and one of the few remaining links with an era when the port was much busier than it is today, has died aged 92.

From 1945 to 1995, he represented G C Fox & Co, then Falmouth’s biggest and oldest shipping agency.

As a busy shipping agent constantly on call, his work included direct involvement in many casualties.

Among these was one of the most famous of all time, the Flying Enterprise saga in 1952, when Falmouth was at the centre of worldwide press attention for a fortnight.

He was also on board the last ship to sink in Falmouth’s waters, escaping with just minutes to spare before the Mitera Marigo went down in Carrick Roads in 1959 and sparked a major pollution scare.

His duties routinely involved boarding and disembarking from large vessels at sea from a tiny working boat in all weathers.

In his earlier working years, the port was unrecognisable from today’s incarnation, bursting at the seams with typically 20 or more large ships alongside and in dock, often with two or even three abreast.

In his memoir published in aid of Cancer Research UK in 2015, Steve also took readers back to the Second World War (1939-45) with vivid childhood memories of how Falmouth suffered at the hands of the German bombers during the world’s biggest-ever conflict.

Outside work, Steve spent much of his time playing tennis and was a lifetime member of the Falmouth Sports Club. He also loved watching sport, particularly rugby and tennis.

Steve died at a care home in St Austell. He leaves a widow, Angela (formerly Morrison), three sons, Roger, Mark and James, and four grandchildren, Kate, Sophie, Max and Freya.