Peter commended for Teebone

PO Peter Ritchie (left) accepts his COMAST Commendation from CO HMAS Kuttabul CMDR Brian Eagles

By Graham Davis
On a Sunday afternoon in March 2001 PONPC Peter Ritchie took a call on HMAS Fremantle asking if he was available to deploy quickly.

A day later and with clearance from his CO, LCDR Adam Allica, he was on a commercial jet flying to South Africa. Peter had become a member of Operation Teebone.

His companions were a number of other RAN members and an SAS team.

Their job was to join South African warships going into international waters to stop and board the South Tomi, a trawler found poaching in the Australian Fishing Zone, being chased across the Southern Ocean by the Australian Fisheries Management Authority’s chartered Southern Supporter.

Because of his naval police coxswain’s ticket and bridge experience Peter became one of the three watch keeping supervisors (with LCDR Trevor Gibson and LEUT Lou Marthick) charged with bringing the trawler to Australia. The work of the RAN in this operation did not go unnoticed.

RADM Marc Bonser, has presented a COMAST Unit Commendation award to those involved, with a copy of the citation to go to each person.

The other RAN personnel to receive the award were LCDR Gibson, LEUT Marthick, POMT D.T.N Payne, LSBM M.G. May, LSMT B.J. Murphy, ABCK A Benton, ABBM C.D. Holloway, ABMT J.P. Munday, SMNBM I.R. King, LSETS D.J. McGee, ABBM C.A. Barnes, ABBM N.T. Gray, ABMT M.B. Jones, ABMT G.E. Reid and SMNBM M.C.A. White.

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