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George Raleigh Gray Worcester (1890-1969) termed himself a sailor by profession. Born in England in 1890, he entered the Royal Navy in the days of sail and rounded the Horn as a midshipman. Although he turned his back on the sea in 1919, the balance of his professional life was spent within sight and sound of water. He joined the Marine Department of the Chinese Maritime Customs Service, and during his career as a River Inspector assisted in surveying, marking, and opening the Yangtze to steam navigation to a point 1,450 miles from the sea. In his wanderings up and down the coast and rivers of China, he developed a deep interest in, and affection for, the junkmen and their craft and set about recording both in remarkable detail. Later, after his retirement, he supervised the construction of the unique Maze Collection of Chinese junk models, once housed in the Science Museum in London; many were built by his own hands.