Michael Richey, MBE, FRIN (1917-2009)

Michael Richey was the first and so far the longest serving director of the RIN. His influence over the formative early days of the institute shaped it's ideals and direction in ways that are still felt today

Richey had served first in the Royal Naval Patrol Reserve, by choice as a matelot on the lower decks, then, having survived the first of three shipwrecks (when HMS Goodwill was sunk by a mine in the Firth of Forth on 2 November 1940), as an officer in the RNVR; he also served in the Free French Navy as their British liaison. His formative years pre-war, in a British Catholic literary and artistic circle that included Tom Burns, Eric Gill, Graham Greene, Harmon Grisewood, René Hague, and David Jones had a significant impact on both the Institute and the Journal he immediately founded and edited, even beyond his retirement, up until 1985. The Institute’s first logo of the arctic tern was commissioned by Richey and engraved by Reynolds Stone; early materials for the Institute were designed, typeset and printed by Hague & Gill; occasional readers of the Journal included the poet and artist David Jones and the writer Graham Greene.

Dr Kai Easton, who co-curated the Waves of Navigation exhibition held in September 2022 to mark the RIN's 75th anniversary previously curated an exhibition about Richey's war time service. Visit and learn more about 'Navigating the War' held at Georgetown University Library here.

Keep an eye on this page for an upcoming blog post with more information about Michael Richey as a navigator and prolific solo sailor!