Harry Wardle

Sep 28 2007 by David Charters, Liverpool Daily Post

THE little boy, whose father left the glamour of football to hump sacks on the quayside, saw the big ships and the dangling hooks on the towering cranes, while listening to tales of the sea – particularly the adventures of the battleship Warspite in the Great War and Commander Edward Ratcliffe Evans, whose ship, The Broke, sank three German destroyers.

But money was short and, after leaving Linacre School, Harry Wardle was unable to attend Bootle Technical College, instead joining the Co-op as a messenger boy.

This was not the life he had planned when his dad left West Bromwich Albion to become a docker on the Mersey.

But, at 16, his services were no longer required, opening the way for him to join the Royal Navy as a boy (second class) in 1935.

Many years later, he would be recognised as one of Britain’s most distinguished divers.

After a spell with the training ship HMS Ganges, Wardle joined the Rodney, the magnificent battleship built by Cammell Laird of Birkenhead. He also served on The Leander, The Witch and The Adventure.

Between 1939 and 1942, he was on the destroyer Griffin, whose exploits included the escort of the Wilhelmina carrying the Dutch Royal Family, who were fleeing from Rotterdam, and the rescue of troops from St Nazaire. Later, she would join The Hotspur and The Gallant in sinking the Italian submarine, Lafole.

In 1943, Wardle was promoted to Warrant Officer as a gunner (torpedo) and served on convoys in the Battle of the Atlantic.

After the war, he began his diving career on the old Royal yacht, Victoria and Albert. This led to him being appointed officer in charge of the Diving School at Devonport.

One of his triumphs came in 1948, when he was senior diving officer on board HMS Reclaim when Petty Officer Wilfred Bollard achieved the world diving record of 535ft in Loch Fyne, Scotland.

In 1958, Wardle left the Royal Navy, eventually forming his own diving company, which designed equipment for Shell, Esso and other oil companies.

To devotees of the deep, his finest exploit was using a fluorescent dye to locate a leak in a mile-long, underwater tin mine in Cornwall, which he plugged with rocks and cement.

Wardle, married with a son, lived on Hayling Island, off the Hampshire coast.

Lieutenant-Commander Harry Wardle, diver; born October 26, 1918,died September 1, 2007.