21 Facts About Augustus Agar

Augustus Agar was born in Kandy, Ceylon, on 4 January 1890.

Augustus Agar's father died in 1902 of cholera which he had caught during a visit to China.

In 1910 Augustus Agar passed his seamanship examination with flying colours and was made an acting sub-lieutenant.

Augustus Agar was promoted to lieutenant on 30 June 1912.

Augustus Agar was aboard Hibernia when the First World War broke out in August 1914, and soon sailed with her to Britain's wartime base at Scapa Flow.

Augustus Agar arrived in September 1915 at the Royal Navy base at Mudros on the Greek island of Lemnos at the entrance to the straits leading to the Black Sea.

Augustus Agar was asked in late 1918 by Sir Mansfield Smith-Cumming, head of the foreign section of the British Secret Intelligence Service, to volunteer for a mission in the Baltic Sea, where CMBs were to be used to ferry British agents back and forth from Bolshevik Russia.

Augustus Agar set out with his two boats, HM Coastal Motor Boat 4 and another, on 17 June 1919.

On 18 August 1919, Augustus Agar took his remaining boat against the Soviets, acting as guide-ship to a flotilla of six others, leading them through the minefields and past the forts.

Augustus Agar then served as captain of the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, England, but with war in the offing he was returned to command of the Emerald in the summer of 1939.

When war began on 3 September 1939 Augustus Agar was in command of the Emerald and, as in 1914, was directed to Scapa Flow.

Emerald had just returned to Scapa on 1 October 1939 when Augustus Agar received "Top Secret" orders to proceed "with all despatch" to Plymouth, England.

Augustus Agar was in charge of the planning and execution of Operation Lucid in September 1940, an attempt to hit the German wooden invasion barges at Boulogne and Calais, France, with incendiary material and set them alight.

On 25 November 1940, Augustus Agar was appointed chief staff officer to the rear admiral commanding Coastal Forces.

Augustus Agar worked hard in this role from November 1940 to July 1941 when he was given a new seagoing command.

At daybreak, Easter Sunday, 5 April 1942, Augustus Agar received a signal that the Japanese Fleet was only 120 miles south of Colombo.

Augustus Agar worked on this assignment for a period and was placed on the retired list in 1943.

Augustus Agar was appointed commodore in 1943 when he served as president and captain of the Royal Naval College, Greenwich.

Augustus Agar served in this capacity until 1946 and reverted to his substantive rank of captain.

Augustus Agar died on 30 December 1968 and was buried in Alton Cemetery.

Augustus Agar's will was probated at 9,580 pounds sterling on 28 March 1969.