A retired merchant navy officer died from a disease resulting from his exposure to asbestos on his very first voyage, a court has heard.

Coroner of inquests John Needham reopened the hearing into the death of Kenneth Nicholas Avison at Douglas courthouse today.

As an apprentice deck officer in 1955, Mr Avison had been stationed just five feet away from where raw bales of asbestos were being loaded onto a ship from Mozambique to Australia, breathing in huge amounts of asbestos dust.

And that single exposure, the court was told, was most likely the cause of the diffuse mesothelioma which he died of in April this year at Hospice.

Mr Needham returned a verdict of death caused by an industrial disease.