Scillonian III master Pete Crawford retired after 39 years

Mr Crawford started working onboard aged 22

A ferry master has retired after completing the equivalent distance of "30 times round the world" onboard.

Master Pete Crawford, 60, made his final voyage on the Scillonian III from St Mary's on the Isles of Scilly to Penzance, Cornwall, after 39 seasons.

He sailed approximately 666,000 miles on the ferry and made more than 9,000 return journeys, Isles of Scilly Travel said.

Mr Crawford said seeing orcas, humpback whales and dolphins were highlights.

He told the BBC: "I've had one of the best offices in the world... I love the ship dearly," but added some journeys had been "very nerve-wracking".

The Scillonian III takes approximately two hours and forty minutes to cross between Penzance and St Mary's

"It's a totally iconic vessel, I know it gets a lot of bad press because you're going out into the Atlantic and it can be a rough crossing, but people do get seasick anywhere," he said.

Mr Crawford, who lives in Penzance with his wife, said he had never suffered from seasickness.

He said many of his highlights were the marine wildlife he had seen including basking sharks, humpback whales, orcas, "many, many fin whales", minke whales and dolphins and tuna regularly.

"One magical thing I'll never forget is a very unusual whale called a Sowerby whale playing in the surf off the Eastern Isles probably about 25 years ago," he recalled.

He said he remembered having Princes William and Harry onboard as children, and more recently celebrities including Titanic actress Kate Winslet and chef Rick Stein.

Stuart Reid, chief executive of the Isles of Scilly Steamship Company, said Mr Crawford had developed an "extremely close connection" with Penzance and Scilly communities and that his "support of and commitment to the Steamship Company has been nothing short of exceptional".