Commodore takes the plunge for charity

Members of Fleet Diving Unit (Pacific) throw Commodore Angus Topshee into Esquimalt Harbour from ‘G’ Jetty in Colwood on Dec. 11. The event was part of a fundraiser for the National Defence Workplace Charitable Campaign. Photos by Peter Mallett, Lookout

Members of Fleet Diving Unit (Pacific) throw Commodore Angus Topshee into Esquimalt Harbour from ‘G’ Jetty in Colwood on Dec. 11. The event was part of a fundraiser for the National Defence Workplace Charitable Campaign.
Photos by Peter Mallett, Lookout

Peter Mallett, Staff Writer ~

Members of Fleet Diving Unit (Pacific) won’t be reprimanded for their dubious deed of tossing Commodore Angus Topshee into the chilly waters of Esquimalt Harbour.

Just after dawn on the morning of Dec. 11, four clearance divers grabbed the Commanding Officer of Canadian Fleet Pacific by his arms and legs and hurled him off a bridge at Colwood’s G Jetty into the drink.

The large crowd of sailors that gathered on the jetty could be heard laughing and cheering as he hit the water.

The act of the perpetrators was not an overboard holiday prank or an act of mutiny, but instead part of a fundraiser for the National Defence Workplace Charitable Campaign (NDWCC).

After making a giant cannon-ball splash in the harbour, Cmdre Topshee then surfaced, spit water from his mouth and raised his hand triumphantly. As he treaded water, he announced his stunt had raised $2,200 in donations from across the fleet for the Department of National Defence annual charitable campaign.

Cmdre Topshee then challenged his east coast equivalent, Canadian Fleet Atlantic Commanding Officer, Cmdre Richard Feltham to equal or surpass the funds raised by taking a plunge off a jetty in Halifax.

“Commodor Feltham, I challenge you to see if your fleet can raise enough money to throw you in the harbour as well.”

Cmdre Topshee wasn’t the only one to take the morning plunge. Moments later he had some company in the water with Captain (Navy) Scott Robinson, Lieutenant (Navy) Sonja Maul-Wilson and Private Robert Veerman also being hurled off the jetty.

At press time there was no word whether Cmdre Feltham had accepted the challenge of taking the plunge into the much colder Halifax Harbour.

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