RFA Sea Salvor (A503) was a salvage vessel of the post-war Royal Fleet Auxiliary

Royal Fleet Auxiliary

The Royal Fleet Auxiliary is a civilian-manned fleet owned by the British Ministry of Defence. The RFA enables ships of the United Kingdom Royal Navy to maintain operations around the world. Its primary role is to supply the Royal Navy with fuel, ammunition and supplies, normally by replenishment...

. She also served as a support ship for Mine Counter Measures vessels.

Built by the Goole Shipbuilding & Repair Co. Ltd., Goole

Goole

Goole is a town, civil parish and port located approximately inland on the confluence of the rivers Don and Ouse in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England...

, the ship was launched on 22 April 1943, and commissioned in February 1944. Decommissioned in April 1971, the ship was laid up at Devonport, and arrived at Grays

Grays

Grays is the largest town in the borough and unitary authority of Thurrock in Essex and one of the Thurrock's traditional parishes...

, Essex

Essex

Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...

 for scrapping on 18 January 1973.

Service history

She spent February to May 1954 recovering the wreckage of the British Overseas Airways Corporation

British Overseas Airways Corporation

The British Overseas Airways Corporation was the British state airline from 1939 until 1946 and the long-haul British state airline from 1946 to 1974. The company started life with a merger between Imperial Airways Ltd. and British Airways Ltd...

's de Havilland Comet

De Havilland Comet

The de Havilland DH 106 Comet was the world's first commercial jet airliner to reach production. Developed and manufactured by de Havilland at the Hatfield, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom headquarters, it first flew in 1949 and was a landmark in aeronautical design...

 G-ALYP "Yoke Peter"

BOAC Flight 781

On 10 January 1954, British Overseas Airways Corporation Flight 781 a de Havilland DH.106 Comet 1 registered G-ALYP, took off from Ciampino Airport in Rome, Italy, en route to Heathrow Airport in London, England, on the final leg of its flight from Singapore...

 which crashed on 10 January 1954 after taking off from Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

. Sea Salvor was commandeered for service during "Operation Musketeer" - the Suez Crisis

Suez Crisis

The Suez Crisis, also referred to as the Tripartite Aggression, Suez War was an offensive war fought by France, the United Kingdom, and Israel against Egypt beginning on 29 October 1956. Less than a day after Israel invaded Egypt, Britain and France issued a joint ultimatum to Egypt and Israel,...

 - in December 1956.

Crew

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

Kalkara

Il-Kalkara is a small picturesque village in Malta, with a population of 2,856 . The name is derived from the Latin word for lime , and it is believed that there was a lime kiln present there since Roman times. Kalkara forms part of the inner harbour area and occupies the area around Kalkara Creek...

 Naval Cemetery, Malta

Malta

Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...

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

Gosport

Gosport is a town, district and borough situated on the south coast of England, within the county of Hampshire. It has approximately 80,000 permanent residents with a further 5,000-10,000 during the summer months...

, 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 LtCdr George Wookey.

External links

• http://www.historicalrfa.org/rfa-sea-salvor-ships-details