ONE of East Lancashire’s most highly-decorated servicemen – who rose to become a rear admiral in the Royal Navy – has died.
George ‘Steve’ Ritchie, 97, was a world-renowned figure for his groundbreaking work surveying seabeds around the globe and he was a consort of royalty.
In wartime he conducted undercover surveys behind enemy lines of beaches in Libya, after training with the Special Boat Service, for which he earned the Distinguished Service Cross.
And his revolutionary work on mapping the ocean floor dragged the ancient art into modern times, as he was the first to encourage the widespread use of computers to plot and metric measurements on charts. He was made Hydrographer of the Royal Navy.
But his exemplary naval career came about after a chance occurrence at a Burnley FC game, when he spied a couple of sailors celebrating a Clarets win.
Born in Burnley in October 1914, the young Ritchie grew up in Rosehill House and was the son of Sir Douglas Ritchie, former town clerk, and was educated at the private Woodleigh School.
One of his illustrious ancestors, Walter Southern, a founder of the Burnley legal firm, was also town clerk in the late 19th century, and Ritchie’s father served with the Gordon Highlanders in the First World War.
In his later years the naval man would fondly recall twopenny tram rides along Manchester Road, hikes across the moors to Bacup and the frendliness of Lancashire folk. His family left East Lancashire when Ritchie was still young and his father was subsequently knighted for services to the Port of London Authority.
Interviewed by the Burnley Evening Star, the forerunner of the Burnley edition of the Lancashire Telegraph, in 1966, on his appointment as hydrographer, he said: “My boyhood days in Burnley were very happy indeed and although I have travelled widely ever since I don’t think I’ve ever met such friendly people as those in Lancashire.
“On reflection on my life in Burnley I have found that whenever I met anyone from there they are easygoing and grand to get on with. I’ve met sailors from Burnley and find that they are always the same – friendly.”
Later he studied at Dartmouth College before joining the battleship Valiant. His fledgling interest in hydrography emerged when he took charge of survey ship Herald in the South China Sea.
His wartime exploits included a daring mission to survey the Bay of Bomba, which he carried out in a collapsible canvas boat, under the noses of Italian troops.
Returning to Allied lines, he became caught up in a gale and remained at sea while a fierce battle raged onshore. The next day he drifted ashore in his boat and was taken prisoner.
Fortunately for him his captors were Afrikaan soldiers and turned out to be his comrades. The exploits earned him the DSC.
On D-Day he was first lieutenant aboard the survey ship Scott and he went on to command a number of survey vessels off mainland Europe before an extended posting with the New Zealand navy.
One of his finest achievements, after the war, was taking another survey ship Challenger, to circum-navigate the world and measure the Challenger Deep, which at 35,814 feet is the deepest point on the planet’s sea floor.
In his stint as Hydrographer, a post which dates back to 1795, he pioneered the automation of nautical charts, which had previously been engraved, and the increasing use of computerised technology.
Twice president of the International Hydrographic Bureau (IHB), at the height of the Cold War, he was presented with many honours, including the Founder’s Medal of the Royal Geographical Society and the Gold Medal of the Royal Institute of Navigation.
In paying tribute to the rear admiral, a Hydrographic Society spokesman said: “Steve remained a keen supporter and active member of the society throughout its 40 years.”
The IHB’s headquarters in Monaco brought Rear Admiral Ritchie into contact with Prince Rainier, who instructed him on the finer points of boules.
The rear admiral became so enamoured with the game that he took it back to Scotland and a club was formed at Collieston. And Prince Rainier gave permission for Ritchie to wash his boules in any fountain in the principality.
Outside of the Admiralty his reputation as a ‘bon vivant’ was legendary, with contemporaries at the Hydrographic Society recalling his performance as Father Christmas or dancing in a grass skirt in the Fiji Islands.
Married to Disa, he was father of three sons, John Patrick and Mark, and one daughter, Tertia. He died at his Aberdeenshire home, in the village where his grandfather grew up.
Before his death he was renowned as a champion of village life and was not only involved in the boules club but the village gala and efforts to preserve the local pier.
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