[AUSTRALIA-NSW] Pitt Water Broken Bay Surveyed by Lieutenant-commander W.H. Martin RAN Assisted by the Officers of H.M.A.S Moresby March 1934

William Harold Martin ( 1903 - 1942) (1903 - 1942)

Naval officer, was born on 18 February 1903 at Drummoyne, New South Wales, the son of William Martin and Ada Jenkin. He descended from a distinguished naval lineage, being a great-great-grandson of Lieutenant Colonel George Johnston, Royal Marines, of the First Fleet, and of Esther Abrahams. Their son, Robert Johnston, was the first Australian-born person to enter the Royal Navy, joining in 1805. Martin entered the Royal Australian Navy in 1917 and pursued a career as a professional naval officer. In 1930 he married Isla Estelle Murray in Sydney. During the Second World War he served as a commander aboard HMAS Perth. He was killed in action on 1 March 1942 when the ship was sunk during the Battle of the Sunda Strait. He is commemorated at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, and at the Plymouth Naval Memorial, Devon. His only son, David James Martin, continued the family’s naval tradition, rising to the rank of rear admiral in the Royal Australian Navy and later serving as Governor of New South Wales.

View other items by William Harold Martin ( 1903 - 1942)