Seventy years ago this adventurous Shropshire woman proved how worthy her sea legs were by embarking on a round-the-world voyage in a 35ft yacht with her father.

Marguerite Roberts, now 93, was invited on the trip by her father, retired naval captain – Commander Robert Graham. But the pair only got as far as New Zealand before war broke out in 1939 and he had to return to England.

Father and daughter set sail in April 1939 from Somerset and arrived in Auckland on November 24 after crossing the Atlantic.

Mrs Roberts, of Caynham, near Ludlow, said: “I knew nothing about sailing and had to learn my reef knot from my granny knot.

“Dad was the skipper and I was his first mate. We had no big arguments and got on very well. I was glad to be able to spend that time with him. Even though there were few or no female sailors in those days, I didn’t feel like I was really brave or adventurous.

“Now I can see it was a great achievement. My sister Helen was the one he would usually take.”

On the trip, the pair ran out of fresh food fairly early on and ate tinned food most of the time, cooking it on two primus stoves.

But Mrs Roberts said they came up with some inventive dishes, slept comfortably on their bunks and said she didn’t feel lonely, even though at times they didn’t see another ship or person for 10 days.

They even picked up Dopey, the cat, in Jamaica and he travelled with them.

The sailing was mostly calm except when they ran into a gale, near Bermuda, and the waves were about 20ft high.

Mrs Roberts, who has three children, said: “I did wonder then if we were going to make it.”

When she and her father reached Bermuda she was awarded the Blue Water Medal by the Cruising Club of America because it was quite a feat for someone of that age to have crossed the Atlantic in such a small boat.

They were invited to a special cocktail party where she was the only woman and everyone “made quite a fuss” of them.

On October 2 she was invited to a special dinner by the Royal Cruising Club of England in London as she decided to present the medal to them.

She said: “I had it in my will to give the medal to the club but my nephew Ian Tew, who wrote a book partly about my experiences, suggested I do it now.”

Ninety-five people turned out to hear her talk about her experiences and watch her hand over the well-earned award.

By Catherine Roche