CAPTAIN H. R. HUGHES

Evening Post, Volume CXXXII, Issue 86, 8 October 1941, Page 11

CAPTAIN H. R. HUGHES

(P.A.) AUCKLAND, October 6,

A retired master mariner with an unsurpassed record of submarine cable work in the Pacific, Captain Harry Rochford Hughes, died on Saturday at his home in St. Heliers, aged 66.

■ Captain Hughes was born in Worcestershire and served his apprenticeship in sail. For some years, including the Boer War period, he was a' junicr* officer in the Union Castle Line between British ports and South Africa In 1903 he joined the marine staff Of the Pacific.Cable Board as fourth offr cer of the cable ship Iris, which had just been built to the board's order for repair and maintenance .work. He re? mained with the vessel continuously for nearly 30 years, eventually becoming her commander and retiring in 1932.

During his long service •■ Captain Hughes established a very high reputation as aft expert in the laying and repairing of cables. He carried on this work in Australian, New Zealand Polynesian, and Canadian waters, often in conditions which tested the skill and endurance of the ship's company to the utmost. He.was called on frequently, to undertake repairs to cables in Cook Strait for the New Zealand Government. Among ' shipmasters he was known as an extraordinarily . skilful navigator and he accomplished many remarkable feats, quickly Iqcatin'g cable faults far distant from land.

When the Iris was arii ed and sent out from Auckland in the last war to search for von Luckner, who had escaped from internment on Motuilu Island, Captain Hughes , Was in command of the shore party at the Kermadec Islands, where the Germans were recaptured. Later the Iris was renamed Recorder and passed to the ownership of Cables and Wireless. Limited, which no longer operates her from Auckland.

After his retirement, Captain Hughes did a large amount of coastal pilotage work for overseas shipping companies. He is survived by his wife, a daughter, and a son, Flight Lieutenant S, W. R.-Hughes, Royal Air Force.