Joined as 4th class assistant. The Vidal was a hydrographic surveying ship, which visited amongst other places the Arctic.

Subsequently at the age of 26 years old, he was appointed to HM SML 322 in Command, as Lieutenant, and his work entailed surveying the Port of London and the Thames Estuary.

In 1959 he was appointed to HMAS Warrego as Executive Officer to undertake Great Barrier Reef Surveys and organised salvage of the first commercial airline Fokker aircraft to crash in Australia

After that Chris flew out to Hong Kong to join the crew of HMS Dampier

In 1960(ish!) he was appointed to HMS Dalrymple. In the second year on Dalrymple, Chris was tasked to take the ship through the Suez Canal

Then he was appointed to HMS Dampier before returning to HMS Dalrymple, surveying off the north west coast of Ireland

In 1963 he was appointed to HMS Medusa in Command as Lieutenant Commander

In 1966 he was appointed to HMS Egeria in Command and as Senior Officer Inshore Survey Squadron