Commander David Joel, who has died aged 90, was a “salt horse” – a seaman officer without deeper specialisation – in the postwar Royal Navy, as well as a wildlife conservator and an art historian.

Joel was first lieutenant or captain of many ships, and in his twenties he drove three MTBs, 1505, 5516 and 5002, based in Harwich. Promoted to lieutenant-commander in 1958, he commanded the new-built minesweeper Woolaston, which deployed to the Mediterranean in December that year. A lifelong sailing enthusiast, Joel had the davits modified so that he could bring his Finn racing dinghy.

After leaving Gibraltar, he was overtaken by a fierce storm and forced to take shelter in Oran in French Algeria. The reception by the French navy, still mindful of the British bombardment in 1940, was frosty, and the ice did not crack when Joel explained that the Christmas trees on Woolaston’s quarterdeck were urgently needed in Malta.

He commanded the long-range diesel-powered anti-aircraft frigate Jaguar in 1962 and 1963 on the South Atlantic station. There, in August 1963, the Brazilian air force flew a jaguar cub, captured in the Mato Grosso, to Rio de Janeiro, where it was embarked in HMS Jaguar and caged in the hastily converted potato locker on the upperdeck.

Despite Joel wishing to keep the animal as a “one-up” mascot, it was seasick and, when the ship returned home in early September, it was delivered to London Zoo.

Joel was promoted to commander in 1966, his last command being the wartime destroyer Wakeful, which had been fitted with experimental satellite communication equipment and stabilisers for trials.

Having already attended the RN staff course at Greenwich three years before, in 1968 he graduated from the USN War College.

In the course of his Cold War career, Joel served in every ocean and many minor wars: the Communist insurgency in Greece; the Palestine patrol against Jewish migration; the Suez Crisis; the Turkish invasion of Cyprus; peacekeeping in the Gulf of Aqaba; the Aden Emergency; the Malayan Emergency; and the Konfrontasi.

He avoided staff appointments until sent to the Ministry of Defence in Bath (1968-71), where he was responsible for the Navy’s policy for small boats and oversaw the transition from the wooden boats which had characterised the Navy for centuries, towards more modern, powered craft. Using official funds, he sponsored Rear-Admiral Desmond Hoare’s experiments at Atlantic College in Wales with rigid inflatable boats (RIBs), craft which have since become common.

He was briefly staff officer operations in the Far East Fleet, before becoming second-in-command of the amphibious assault ship Fearless in 1971. However, despite his early promise and youthful commands, Joel – an inspiring leader and a consummate seaman – was passed over for promotion to captain.

He completed his career as naval adviser in the West Indies (1977-78), desk officer in the directorate of administrative planning, and, from 1981 to 1983, as naval liaison officer, Southampton. There he found his last war and oversaw the conversion of the Cunard liner Queen Elizabeth II, among others, for the Falklands conflict.

Miles David Joel was born into a naval family on October 27 1928 at Radlett in Hertfordshire: his father had been Mentioned in Despatches at the Battle of Jutland. Miles was educated at Aldenham Prep School and entered the Navy in 1946.

In 1985 he bought the wrecked and vandalised East Lighthouse on the Wash and restored it, brought in electricity, and redug the ponds to the side, where his friend, Sir Peter Scott, had drawn his inspiration for Slimbridge, site of the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust reserve. Over the next 25 years Joel created a private wildlife reserve which eventually became the Snowgoose Wildlife Trust.

He wrote three books: the catalogue raisonné (2000) for the 18th century marine artist Charles Brooking, whose works he collected; Claude Monet at Vethueil (2002); and a tribute to his art tutor, Homage to Roland Green: His Norfolk Legacy (2012). Joel also painted in oils and sold more than 200 pictures, mostly to friends.

A member of the Royal Yacht Squadron from 1982 until 2002, Joel was curator of the squadron’s considerable art collection in Cowes. His boats included Scram, a 3-ton launch; Seraphinn, an Olympic Finn; and Speardancer, a 5-ton 30 ft twin screw diesel yacht.

Joel bought his first car in 1954 for £180, “a glorious 1933 Aston long-chassis Le Mans coupé”, KTE 888, or “Katy”. He recalled: “There was little traffic outside Harwich and no top speed limits, so driving that was a joy.”

Over the next half-century he owned seven more Astons, including a DB 2/4 which he found in Singapore, restored and raced in the Johore grand prix there, and his last, a DB7 coupe.

Joel married Jenifer Birkett Tyler in 1955; she survives him along with their three daughters.

Commander David Joel, born October 27 1928, died May 17 2019