The Obituary of our Life President Vice Admiral Sir Geoffrey Dalton KCB as published in the Daily Telegraph 13/10/2020.
Vice-Admiral Sir Geoffrey Dalton, led daring rescue when a Greek ship sank in a storm – obituary
Later he became the first admiral to be president of the Royal British Legion since Lord Jellicoe in the 1920s
By Telegraph Obituaries 12 October 2020 – print edition 13 October 2020
As Deputy Supreme Allied Commander, Atlantic, aboard a US Navy carrier
Vice-Admiral Sir Geoffrey Dalton, who has died aged 89, led a dramatic international rescue at sea, and as president of the Royal British Legion oversaw the reintroduction of the nationwide two-minute silence.
In the early hours of February 15 1979 off Cape St Vincent, on the south-west tip of Portugal, Dalton was in command of the frigate Jupiter on passage from Devonport to Gibraltar through heavy weather when he heard a distress call from the Greek cargo ship Iris.
Several days of gale-force winds from the south-west had veered to the north-west, raising a heavy, jumbled sea: Iris was shedding her cargo as she broke up, and was sinking. She could transmit Mayday calls, but was unable to receive radio messages and was unsure of her position.
In the dark and confusion, Dalton took charge of several British, French, German, Liberian and Russian merchant ships who made contradictory reports, and Jupiter reversed course several times, rolling violently.
At dawn Dalton heard from the Russian Rusa that she had sighted Iris, whose weather deck was almost submerged, but it was too rough to launch lifeboats, and a few minutes later he heard that Iris was on her beam ends and her crew in the water.
Line squalls with heavy rain and gusts of wind up to 45 knots blew through, but the gale moderated to Force 8 as scrambling nets, throwing lines and swimmers were prepared. Dalton manoeuvred Jupiter into a patch of flotsam, but could not hold her head to sea (with her bows into her wind) because as she slowed the bows paid off from the wind and she rolled through 90 degrees.
Nevertheless, two survivors were rescued when they climbed a scrambling net unaided, but as others held on grimly, they were submerged with each roll. One man was swept under Jupiter and rescued on the other side, while Jupiter’s sailors climbed down the nets to heave others upwards.
Meanwhile, a relay of swimmers, who had to wait until there was clear space between floating wreckage, jumped into the water with strops (short pieces of rope) to rescue men too weak to swim to the ship’s side. For three hours Dalton manoeuvred his ship in conditions which demanded constant and highly professional seamanship to ensure the safety of his own people in the water and on deck, and to avoid endangering the survivors.
By 11:45 only one man was unaccounted for, the chief engineer of Iris who had been seen going below before she capsized. Jupiter had recovered 10 survivors and seven dead; six more were in the German Kehdingerland and four in Rusa, ships who had done well, reported Dalton, despite their lack of manoeuvrability.
In the afternoon the weather moderated, and Dalton was able to launch his helicopter to collect a doctor and urgently needed drugs from the newly arrived destroyer Hampshire. Making a best speed of 22 knots, Jupiter berthed in Gibraltar at 04:00 on February 16.
On Dalton’s recommendation, swimmer-of-the-watch Able Seaman Terry Loftus, who had made seven jumps into the perilous seas, was awarded the George Medal, three other Jupiters were awarded the Queen’s Gallantry Medal, and two more the Queen’s Commendation for Brave Conduct for their skill, selfless dedication, courage and endurance in the greatest traditions of the service.
Dalton himself was awarded a commander-in-chief’s commendation.
Geoffrey Thomas James Oliver Dalton was born on April 14 1931 in Kuala Lumpur, where his father was a rubber planter in Selangor. He was educated at Wick and Parkfield prep, and Reigate Grammar School, and joined the Navy as a special-entry engineer cadet in 1949. Having passed out top of his entry he was allowed to transfer to the seaman branch.
After the training cruiser Devonshire, he served as a midshipman in the carrier Illustrious in 1950. Highlights of Dalton’s early career included: the search by the frigate Loch Alvie for the missing submarine Affray which had been run down in the Channel in 1951; operations off Korea at the end of the war there; and patrols, in the destroyer Cockade, in the Formosa Straits to prevent Chinese Nationalist gunboats from interfering with merchant ships trading into the Chinese mainland; as a lieutenant in command of the minesweeper Maryton patrolling off Cyprus to prevent gun-running by EOKA terrorists; and as first lieutenant of the frigate Murray, on fishery protection off Iceland, where he made his initial acquaintance with bad weather.
As a lieutenant-commander and first lieutenant of the frigate Dido, Dalton’s operational experience was expanded during the opening stages of Konfrontasi, the irregular war with Indonesia, and attempts by guerrillas to cross the Malacca Strait.
Dalton enjoyed three frigate commands: Relentless in 1966-67, when he enforced the blockade of Beria, the naval operation to enforce an oil embargo on Ian Smith’s Southern Rhodesia after UDI; Nubian in the Persian Gulf in 1969-71; and Jupiter in 1977-79. When Jupiter was delayed in refit in Devonport and Dalton exerted himself to get her out of the dockyard’s hands, a wag on-board spread the rumour that his initials (GTJO) stood for “Get The Jupiter Out!”
Dalton was a student on the staff course at Greenwich in 1962, and at the Royal College of Defence Studies in 1975. Two prominent and unusual shore appointments were his too: commanding officer of the School of Physical Training and Sport, and Captain, Royal Naval Presentation Team, when he spoke to invited audiences in towns and cities, universities and industry about the importance of defence and the role of the Royal Navy.
However, it was his appointment as assistant director of naval plans, working on the future size and shape of the fleet, which prepared him for becoming Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Policy) in 1981. This appointment was remarkable too: he spent his early months implementing the planned reductions to the Navy mandated by the Nott Defence Review, and the later months reinstating many of those cuts after the “lessons learned” from the Falklands War.
His last appointment was as Deputy Supreme Allied Commander, Atlantic, in Norfolk, Virginia, in 1984-87; he was knighted KCB in 1986.
Dalton: unflamboyant
On leaving the Navy, Dalton decided that he had more to offer in the world of charities than business, and he succeeded Brian Rix as secretary-general of Mencap. Other charities in which he was active included the Regular Forces Employment Bureau, the Ex-Service Fellowship, and Combat Stress.
In 1993 he became the first admiral to be president of the Royal British Legion since Lord Jellicoe in the 1920s: he recalled his four years in office, covering the 50th anniversary of D-Day and the reintroduction of the two minutes’ silence on Armistice Day, as “truly inspiring”.
Many generations of Dalton’s family had been members of the Drapers’ Company, one of the 12 great livery companies in the city of London, including two former masters, and Dalton became master in 1996. A final rare appointment became his when he was made honorary colonel of the 71st (Yeomanry) Signals Regiment.
Despite his wide operational experience and senior rank, Dalton remained diffident and unflamboyant, therefore it was a surprise when in his 80s he took to wearing a full suit of black leathers and arriving at the Rowlands Castle Tennis club (where he was president) astride a 1,000cc Triumph motorcycle.
He married, in 1957, Jane Baynes, a WRNS officer who he met when he was flag-lieutenant to the Commander-in-Chief Nore. She survives him with their four sons.
Vice-Admiral Sir Geoffrey Dalton, born April 14 1931, died September 26 2020
Vice-Admiral Sir Geoffrey Dalton, led daring rescue when a Greek ship sank in a storm – obituary