It was a dark and stormy night on a Greek island in the 1950s and the tramp steamer Trojan was preparing to depart. In a bar not far away a young seaman, already down thousands of dollars on bad poker hands, kept an eye on the vessel as the last mooring lines were slipped. The seaman went to the toilet but slipped out the back door and made a superhuman dash for the departing Trojan. Moments later his poker partners charged out in hot pursuit. Des Keegan landed on the deck, leaving his debtors screaming, "Come back Kangaroo!"

Keegan had a reservoir of tales about his early exploits as a merchant seaman. Those days - before he became a leading Australian financial journalist - were memories he relished.

Desmond Joseph Keegan was born in Narrabri on October 1, 1933, the third child of John and Minnie Keegan. John was a mounted policeman and the family moved frequently around the country. His education at St Joseph's College in Sydney went well until he was expelled for running a racing book.

He worked as a cadet surveyor from Kalgoorlie to Karratha and from the Hunter Valley up to Queensland. After doing National Service in the RAAF he joined the merchant navy, which gave him a look at the world and a wealth of stories.

On his return he studied economics and accounting at the University of Sydney, graduating with honours. He was keen to become a journalist and had his lucky break when he met Maximilian Walsh, who in turn pointed him to Max Newton, editor of the Australian Financial Review. Newton took Keegan on board and he learnt his trade during the paper's period of rapid growth.

Then he was lured to the Sun News Pictorial, where he spent years as finance editor. He steered the paper's coverage of the Poseidon boom and crash as, in 1969, the shares of nickel explorer Poseidon NL rose from 80¢ to $280.

Under Keegan's direction the paper's finance pages grew and flourished, helping The Sun hit a circulation of more than 660,000 a day. Meanwhile the Phoenix Hotel was across the street and in view of Keegan's office window. Here the reporters often drank hard and ran two-up schools as they waited for the early proofs. When editor Harry Gordon called Keegan in to celebrate a circulation increase, Keegan replied, "Imagine what we could do if we were all sober!"

During Keegan's career he worked with London's Financial Times and Toronto's Financial Post. He was finance editor of The Australian twice, and wrote a widely-read column in that paper in the 1980s.

His knowledge of companies and share prices ultimately led him to work in Melbourne corporate PR, mainly in the resources exploration area. He finally retired to Surfers Paradise but before long returned to Melbourne.

Des Keegan is survived by his nephews Matt and Patrick.

Ray Beatty