Sir Arthur Guy Norris Wyatt

KBE KBE may refer to: * Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, post-nominal letters * Knowledge-based engineering Knowledge-based engineering (KBE) is the application of knowledge-based systems technology to the domain o ...

CB (1893-1982), often known as Guy Wyatt, was a Royal Navy Officer and Surveyor who was

Hydrographer of the Navy The Hydrographer of the Navy is the principal hydrographical Royal Naval appointment. From 1795 until 2001, the post was responsible for the production of charts for the Royal Navy, and around this post grew the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office ...

in 1945–1950. Wyatt was born in 1893. His father was Arthur Norris Wyatt. In 1910, as a naval cadet, he was awarded the Royal Humane Society's bronze medal for saving life from drowning.The Navy List (1911)
/ref> Later that year he was promoted to midshipman. During World War I he was active in the Grand Fleet and the Dover Patrol, being promoted to Lieutenant in 1915. In 1918 he was in command of , a destroyer engaged in anti-submarine and escort duty. From 1919 to 1926 Wyatt was engaged in surveying, mainly in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and the Torres Strait, with a period working on the east coast of England and the Thames Estuary. In 1922 he married the Australian actress

Tien Hogue Tien Hogue was the stage name of Anne Christina Hogue (29 June 1892 – November 1964), an Australian actress of stage and screen in the silent era. She was a popular personality, who, though marriage, became Lady Wyatt. Family The fourth da ...

. In 1926 he took command of the HMS ''Ormonde'' surveying in

British Guiana British Guiana was a British colony, part of the mainland British West Indies, which resides on the northern coast of South America. Since 1966 it has been known as the independent nation of Guyana. The first European to encounter Guiana was S ...

, and then worked in home waters for two years in HMS ''Beaufort''. He was promoted to Commander in 1929, and again took command of ''Ormonde'' for surveing work in the Persian Gulf and Cyprus. In 1932-1934 Wyatt commanded , surveying the coast of Labrador, and working in the West Indies in the winter. He published a detailed account of the surveying work in Labrador, in a largely uncharted area with many islands and rocky narrow channels, frequent fog, and icebergs. Peparing a baseline for triangulation involved considerable levelling and infilling of swamp, releasing mosquitoes so numerous that they covered large areas of the men's bodies. On one occasion (23 Sep 1932) the ship struck a pinnacle rock, and was only refloated with difficulty. At the end of the 1934 season a winter party was left behind to continue land-based surveying. From 1935 to 1937 Wyatt was Superintendent of Charts at the Hydrographic Office. From 1937 until the outbreak of war in 1939 he commanded HMS ''Endeavour'', surveying in New Zealand waters. He was promoted to the rank of Captain on 30 June 1938. In 1940, he became Assistant Hydrographer under John Edgell, and in 1942 was again in command of ''Challenger'' supporting the Eastern Fleet. The ship carried printing equipment so that charts created from surveys could be produced locally. Wyatt set up facilities for creating and printing charts at Mombasa, Dehra Dun and Colombo. In 1944 he was back in the Torres Strait surveying and sweeping a path for the Pacific Fleet. In 1945 he became Hydrographer to the Navy, supervising the return of the office to peacetime duties. He was promoted to Rear-Admiral in 1945, awarded the CB in 1948 and made KBE in 1949. He retired with the rank of vice admiral in 1950. He and Tien lived in Tasmania in retirement until their deaths. She died in 1962, he in 1982.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wyatt, Arthur Guy Norris Royal Navy officers 1893 births 1982 deaths