Alfred Brian Palmer MBE, DSC (27 March 1899 – 4 July 1993) was a Royal Navy Reserve captain and near the end of his career was the commander of the shore base HMS Furneaux in Brisbane.

He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross in 1941 for "courage, skill and devotion to duty in operations off the Libyan coast",[1] and made a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1944.

After three voyages to New Zealand on the Daniel in November 1916, Palmer joined the Burrowa, an Australian merchant sailing vessel (2902 gross register tons).

[12] There are slight differences in accounts of how his ship was captured, with one source saying the Italians "trapped him by a ruse",[5] and the other saying the Germans "kidded him" to make landfall in their territory.

[13] Palmer was accused of embezzlement while working as marine superintendent of waterways transport for the Chinese National Relief and Rehabilitation Administration in 1947.