When the idea for an international maritime history symposium in the Channel Islands was first mooted some twenty years ago, it received the enthusiastic support of the late Marc Michel. It was fitting, therefore, that he should live to see his dream realised in Alderney in September 2019, and that he should play such a prominent role in the organisation and recording of the event which proved to be such a popular and resounding success. All of this was made possible by the foresight and generosity of Mary Euler, who set up The Henry Euler Memorial Trust in commemoration of her husband, Henry Euler, a direct descendant of the celebrated Swiss mathematician, who had served as an RNVR torpedo officer in HMS Illustrious from her date of commission, through the Mediterranean campaign and including the raid on the Italian fleet at Taranto.

As the Trust's patron, His Excellency, the Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey, Vice Admiral Sir Ian Corder, KCB stated in his opening address at the 2019 Symposium that one of the Trust's principal objectives is ‘to inform, develop and maintain the interest of the inhabitants of Alderney and others in the maritime heritage of Alderney’. By placing Alderney in its Channel Islands’ setting, thence within the wider context of Anglo-French relations between 1689 and 1918, the Symposium enabled leading British and French historians to complement existing scholarship which has tended to treat the Islands as a place apart. Their strategic location was of immense importance in Anglo- French relations – the Islands shaped national strategies in war and peace, and strategy shaped the Islands in equal measure.

The Trustees have expressed their warm gratitude for the unreserved support received from Andrew Lambert and Jean de Préneuf in the organisation of the 2019 Symposium, and for the agreements reached with their respective academic institutions – King's College London, the Université de Lille and the Service Historique de la Défense, Paris. The close working relationship thus established, and the outstanding contributions of all those speakers who participated in the 2019 Symposium, have laid a solid foundation for future cooperation and research into the maritime history of Alderney and the Channel Islands throughout all periods of history.