Calvin Trott, a mainstay of the island’s Sea Cadet Corps, had died. Mr Trott was 83.

Lieutenant Commander Michael Frith, commanding officer of the BSCC, said Mr Trott was the driving force behind keeping TS Admiral Somers afloat.

Commander Frith added Mr Trott “simply loved what the Sea Cadets did” and “had a very quiet generosity”.

He said: “When I say we would not be there without him, there’s a physical aspect — there were times when there really wasn’t anybody else who could have done what he did to keep the place ticking.

“But there’s much more than that. It has always been challenging, and I probably would not have remained as an officer, had it not been for his encouragement.

“He would tell me, point blank, that we needed to be doing what we were doing. He was uncompromising that way.”

A service in celebration of Mr Trott’s life will be held today at 2.30pm in another institution he supported — Their Majesties Chappell, St Peter’s Church in St George’s.

Commander Frith said Mr Trott “physically kept the unit running”.

He added Mr Trott did not teach cadets, but maintained a presence at Friday drill nights, cooked food for sale, watched over youngsters and kept the building shipshape.

Mr Frith said: “Anything that was needed, he was the one quietly co-ordinating it.

“For a lot of people, myself included, there’s a bit of ego behind things. With him, there was none. He had absolutely no interest in getting recognition.”

Dwayne Trott, Mr Trott’s son, who preceded Commander Frith as commanding officer, said he was forced to join the unit in 1973 by his father but stayed on.

The younger Trott posted online on September 12: “This morning we lost a great man, a great dad, a role model, an unselfish man who loved to help others.”

Mr Trott’s grandson, Nathan Trott, a goalkeeper for West Ham United and England Under-20s, has returned to the island for the funeral.

Mr Trott, a former prison officer, was also active in Youth Athletic Organisation baseball in St George’s.

Grace Rawlins, a lay reader at St Peter’s, said Mr Trott attended Chapel of Ease in St David’s, as well as the former St Peter’s West near Wellington Oval.

She added Mr Trott was on the church’s diocese and synod as well as a “very active” vestry member. Ms Rawlins said: “Calvin was a quiet-spoken person. Even when annoyed about something, he never raised his voice, but you got the full force of his feeling. He was outspoken, very frank, and didn’t play games.

“He was someone who quietly went about doing what had to be done. Unfortunately, we never notice these people.”

She added Mr Trott was proud of his grandfather, the Reverend William Charles Trott, and pushed for her to start a historical record of the contributions of black Anglicans.

Ms Rawlins added: “There were some that didn’t believe his grandfather could have been a black minister.

“Calvin was so glad that I was working on it — he would joke that people would know now that he wasn’t telling a lie.”

Ms Rawlins said the record was still a work in progress, but included a tribute to William Charles Trott, “a fascinating man, a renaissance man”, who returned to the island from missionary work overseas in the 1930s.