RFA ''Sea Salvor'' (A503) was a salvage vessel of the post-war Royal Fleet Auxiliary. She also served as a support ship for Mine Counter Measures vessels. Built by the Goole Shipbuilding & Repair Co. Ltd., Goole, the ship was launched on 22 April 1943, and commissioned in February 1944. Decommissioned in April 1971, the ship was laid up at

HMNB Devonport His Majesty's Naval Base, Devonport (HMNB Devonport) is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Clyde and HMNB Portsmouth) and is the sole nuclear repair and refuelling facility for the Roy ...

, and arrived at

Grays, Essex Grays (or Grays Thurrock) is the largest town in the borough and unitary authority of Thurrock in Essex, England. The town which is both a former civil parish and one of Thurrock's traditional Church of England parishes is located on the north ...

for scrapping on 18 January 1973.

Service history

She spent February to May 1954 recovering the wreckage of the British Overseas Airways Corporation's de Havilland Comet G-ALYP "Yoke Peter" which crashed on 10 January 1954 after taking off from Rome, Italy. ''Sea Salvor'' deployed for service during "Operation Musketeer" - the

Suez Crisis The Suez Crisis, or the Second Arab–Israeli war, also called the Tripartite Aggression ( ar, العدوان الثلاثي, Al-ʿUdwān aṯ-Ṯulāṯiyy) in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel,Also known as the Suez War or 1956 Wa ...

- in December 1956. In January 1968 ''Sea Salvor'', together with the minesweepers , , and took part in relief efforts following the

1968 Belice earthquake The 1968 Belice earthquake sequence took place in Sicily between 14 and 15 January. The largest shock measured 5.5 on the moment magnitude scale, with five others of magnitude 5+. The maximum perceived intensity was X (''Extreme'') on the Mer ...

that struck Sicily on 14/15 January.

Crew

Diver John Richard Cresdee, who died on 30 October 1957 is buried at

Kalkara Naval Cemetery The Kalkara Naval Cemetery (or Capuccini Naval Cemetery) is a cemetery in Kalkara in the South Eastern Region of Malta. The main entrance to the cemetery is at the junction of Triq Santa Rokku and Triq San Leonardu. The cemetery is divided into ...

, Malta. His name was actually Jack Richard Cresdee, but his headstone bears the name John, because of a mistake caused by his brother-in-law. He was born in

Gosport Gosport ( ) is a town and non-metropolitan borough on the south coast of Hampshire, South East England. At the 2011 Census, its population was 82,662. Gosport is situated on a peninsula on the western side of Portsmouth Harbour, opposite t ...

, Hampshire, on 8 July 1920 to Harold Cresdee and Martha Hamlet. He died in an explosion whilst surveying the wreck of the submarine HMS ''P36'' in Lazaretto Creek, Malta, when a build-up of gases in the submarines fuel tanks were ignited by the flame of his underwater cutting gear. His body was recovered the next day by Royal Navy clearance diver Lt Cdr George Wookey.

References

External links

*http://www.historicalrfa.org/rfa-sea-salvor-ships-details *http://www.rfanostalgia.org/gallery3/index.php/RFA-TUGS-SALVAGE/Salvage King Salvor-class salvage vessels Ships built in Goole 1944 ships {{UK-aux-ship-stub