A SILVER CIGARETTE BOX PRESENTED TO REAR-ADMIRAL ROGER MORRI...

Hammer

£90

A SILVER CIGARETTE BOX PRESENTED TO REAR-ADMIRAL ROGER MORRIS, C.B., R.N., HYDROGRAPHER OF THE NAVY, 1985-1990

the heavy gauge silver cigarette box hallmarked for Birmingham, 1931, with the lid extensively engraved with all Morris’s ships and shore establishments from 1956-77 around the central initials R.O.M. -- 7 x 3½in. (17.5 x 9cm.); IDN supplied

Rear-Admiral Roger Morris, C.B. (1932-2020) entered Dartmouth in 1946 and began specializing in surveying in 1956. He assisted with the important survey of the Johore Straits and also worked in the South Pacific as well as for an arduous short period in South Georgia in 1961 during which he nearly lost his life. In 1979, he was the senior officer of a squadron surveying the waters off the southeastern coast of Iran and, after the sudden overthrow of the Shah, he directed the evacuation of stranded Westerners, albeit without any official recognition which many felt was due to him. His appointment as Hydrographer to the Navy in 1985 coincided with reductions across the Hydrographic Service due to financial pressures, but he fought for what he believed in and his tenure was widely regarded as a successful one.