Lieutenant Commander Harry WARDLE Royal Navy

Harry Wardle passed away peacefully on Saturday 1 September 2007. He was a month short of his 89th birthday.

Harry was particularly instrumental in the Royal Navy breaking the world deep diving record when PO Wilfred Bollard attained a depth of 535 feet (163 metres) from HMS Reclaim in Loch Fyne on 28 August 1948. This record remained intact until Lt George Wookey MBE set a new world record of 600 feet (183 metres) from HMS Reclaim in Sørfjorden, Norway on 12 October 1956. Sadly, George died in March this year so we have lost two pioneers of RN deep diving in a very short space of time. Their open water achievements eventually led to further record-breaking dives ashore at the Royal Navy Physiological Laboratory (RNPL), Alverstoke to simulated depths of 1,500 feet salt water (457 metres salt water) by John Bevan and Peter Sharphouse in March 1970 – described by American colleagues as “a hyperbaric moon landing” – and 2,165 fsw (660 msw) by Martin Garrrard and Mark English between 28 October and 8 December 1980.

I am the proud owner of inscribed copies of Harry’s memoirs and he mentioned that I was the first “post-war” recipient of his first volume, Forecastle to Quarterdeck, published in 1994 (ISBN 09523162.0.X). The second volume was Dive Navy published in 2002 (ISBN 0952316218). According to these tomes, Harry was born on 26 October 1918. He left school in Liverpool in 1932 and was offered a place at Bootle Technical College but his parents were unable to support him. After working as a Co-op errand boy until made redundant on his 16th birthday because he cost more to employ, Harry joined the Royal Navy at HMS Ganges as a Boy Second Class on 12 February 1935. He finished top of his class and subsequently had the following eventful naval career:

1935-36 HMS Rodney, battleship – Home Fleet Plymouth and Gibraltar.

1936-37 HMS Leander, cruiser – Spanish Patrol (Spanish Civil War).

1937 HMS Witch, destroyer – Irish Patrol, Southern Ireland.

1937-39 HMS Adventure, minelayer – China Station general service (in Shanghai during Japanese bombing of city).

1939 HMS Drake, Devonport – Educational training. Candidate for rating pilot in Fleet Air Arm.

1939 HMS Defiance, Devonport – Training in torpedoes and electrical work. Rating pilot scheme cancelled with war likely.

1939-40 HMS Griffin, destroyer – Member of First Flotilla. Operated in North Sea, Norwegian campaign and evacuation from France. Five of flotilla sunk with the remaining three (HMS Greyhound, HMS Gallant and HMS Griffin) damaged. HMS Garland transferred to Polish Navy after repairs.

1940-42 HMS Griffin, destroyer – Mediterranean: Battles of Taranto, Matapan, Tobruk, Malta, Greece and Crete. HMS Greyhound sunk. HMS Gallant damaged beyond repair.

1942 HMS Griffin, destroyer – Eastern Fleet: General service in Indian Ocean. Based at Trincomalee and later Mombasa. Back in the Mediterranean for June 1942 convoy only.

1943 HMS Defiance, Devonport – Qualified as Torpedo Officer.

1944 HMS Inconstant, destroyer – Russian convoy escort duties based at Gourock on the Clyde.

1944-45 HMS Inconstant, destroyer – D-Day escorting invasion fleet. Member of anti-submarine group escorting convoys or hunting U-boats in Channel waters. Based at Gladstone Dock, Liverpool.

1945-46 HMS Excellent and HMS Deepwater – Completion of diving training.

1946-48 HMS Defiance, Devonport – Officer-in-Charge of the Plymouth Diving School until April 1948.

1947 HMS Deepwater, RN diving school – Time out to qualify in deep diving.

1948 HMS Reclaim, deep diving vessel – Senior Diving Officer under Cdr Bill Shelford (CO and Superintendent of Diving). Set new world deep diving record of 535 feet (PO Wilfred Bollard).

1949 – Promoted Lieutenant.

1950 HMS Mediator, fleet tug – Navigation Officer.

1951 HMS Reclaim, deep diving vessel – First Lieutenant during search for sunken submarine HMS Affray, lost with all hands.

1951-54 HMS Vernon, Portsmouth – Senior Diving Officer of the principal RN Diving School. Qualified in Clearance Diving.

1954-1956 HMS Tamar, Hong Kong – Fleet Clearance Diving Officer for the Far East Station covering Singapore, Malaya and Hong Kong.

1956-58 HMS Vernon – Deputy Superintendent of Diving until his early retirement from the Royal Navy to pursue a successful second career in civil engineering and commercial diving. Before his civilian work took him away, Harry was a member of Southsea BSAC.