Reclaiming Affray
Sir: I found the article on the loss of HMS Affray ('Affray in the Channel', 27 April) most interesting. I was the medical officer on HMS Reclaim — the deep-diving ship which took part in the search for and carried out the survey of the wreck which took several weeks to complete. Also, I have a copy of the report from the Board of Admiralty inquiry into the sinking. Reclaim was at Portsmouth with half the ship's company on leave, and one engine stripped down on the morning 'Operation Subsmash' commenced. We were fully manned and at sea late that afternoon. Affray is not at the bottom of the Hurd Deep; had she sunk there, our deep-suited divers would have been unable to reach
her, since the depth is 500-600 feet. She lies close by in 30 feet of water.
For two months, Reclaim had been. putting divers down to investigate wrecks located by Asdic. Then one night we received a signal which did not simply direct us to another 'contact' but told us this was the submarine. We arrived the next morning and lowered our closed- circuit television camera directly over her name-plate. As mentioned, the captain of HMS Reclaim, Lieutenant Commander J. Bathurst, was honoured for his excellent work with an OBE. Promotion to com- mander would also have been appreciated! At one time, I remember Bathurst saying that Affray's captain had probably in- tended to get a fix on the Casquets light before proceeding westwards down the Channel to complete the exercise. Diving on the submarine was hazardous. The endurance and fortitude of the divers in carrying out the difficult task of the survey (one hour's diving time every six hours) was admirable. Towards the end, the danger of working in strong tidal waters was compounded by the wreck becoming unstable. As far as I know, none of the divers received special recognition or de- coration. It was one of the diving officers — George Wookey — who dived to secure the broken schnorkel mast — which we brought on board and took back to Port- smouth. There (for the first and last time) we were given a high-class berth at South Railway Jetty for the convenience of a number of very senior officers who came to inspect the cause of the catastrophe.
J. E. Fay
Professor, Department of Medicine, Queen's University, Kingston, Canada
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