Royal Navy war veteran Dan Hawman yesterday paraded down a high street in full uniform trying to find precious lost snaps of life at sea.

Dan, 73, of Acomb, York, dropped a brown envelope containing the unique photographs of warships and old comrades which he kept in his wallet for over 50 years.

But despite offering a reward for the return of the 11 pictures and two magazine cuttings, they were not forthcoming.

So, Dan put on his uniform, beret and medals and marched up and down Gale Lane in York with a placard plea saying they were irreplaceable.

Dan said: "I'm devastated. The pictures are my life and I feel as though I have lost an arm. I would very much love to get them back and that is why I have put on the uniform and am asking people if they have seen my photographs."

They include two portraits of Dan when he first joined the navy a\ged 17 and a picture of him on the upper deck of his ship, HMS Anson in Malta on VE Day.

Another picture is of Dan with old mates who he reunited with at the Far Eastern and British Pacific Fleet reunion at Portsmouth in 1995.

Dan served as an engine room stoker in the Pacific during the Second World War and is chairman of the Yorkshire Ensign Association.

He said: "The pictures are a personal history of when I first joined the navy. There are no copies and no negatives. They are no good to anyone else and I am very upset because they have been missing since last Saturday."