By David Jones and Peter Nunan
From Baird Maritime:
Harold Geeves Chesterman, MBE, DSC and bar, RD, RNR was born in Melbourne in 1917. The offspring of two notable Tasmanian families.
At fourteen he voyaged to England to enrol at the Thames Nautical Training College on HMS 'Worcester' at Greenhithe in Kent. The objective of this training was a career in the British Merchant Navy. That is where he headed but, as part of that activity, he joined the Royal Navy Reserve.
He continued this double life through the outbreak of war when he switched to the Royal Navy full time. He then moved up through roles as executive officer on armed trawlers, then corvettes, a sinking, and by mid-1942 was commanding a corvette HMS 'Snowflake'. At 25 he was the youngest captain of a major warship in the Royal Navy. Not bad for a colonial boy!
Constantly at war in the Battle of the Atlantic, Chesterman and his crew were notably successful. However, command of a new ship followed but she was not so lucky and was torpedoed and sunk. Next step was command of a destroyer. Again, not bad for a 29 year old colonial.
Then it was back to the Merchant Navy. He joined Australia's Commonwealth Lighthouse Service whose vessels he commanded for the remainder of his still eventful career. He became one of the greatest ever experts on the Queensland coast. The book goes into this in great detail for those interested in learning more.
A double life, in a way. Chesterman was fundamentally a merchant navy man but he was, throughout, also a warrior. He had a wonderful life which has been well recorded here.
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