LIFEBOAT MAGAZINE ARCHIVE

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Capt. R. L. Hamer, D.S.O., R.N.

CAPTAIN RICHARD LLOYD HAMER, D.S.O., R.N., who died on the 16th of December, 1951, at the age of 67, was for twenty years in the service of the Institution. When he came to it in 1925, he had served for many years, before and during the war of 1914 to 191*, in destroyers, had been flag lieutenant to the commander-in-chief on the Cape Station, and flag lieutenant and flag commander to the com- mander-in-chief on the East Indies Station, and for two years the naval assistant secretary to the Committee of Imperial Defence. He was appointed district inspector of life- boats for the southern district, where he served until 1929, when he went to the northern district. In the following year, he became deputy chief inspector of life-boats. Nine years later, on the outbreak of war in September, 1939, he was recalled to the Navy, at the age of fifty-five. He served throughout the war, winning the D.S.O.

for "courage and resource in success- ful attacks on enemy submarines." When the war ended he was 61. He did not return to the Institution, and retired at the end of 1945. The Committee of Management sent him a letter expressing their "high appre- ciation" of his services to the Institu- tion, and their congratulations on "his distinguished service" with the Navy during the war..