One of the Squadron's great characters, Bolitho was known to his many friends as 'Pull Through' as he had once been as long and as thin as the cord used by soldiers to clean their rifles.
His wife came from the Channel Islands and he knew the area like the back of his hand. It is said that he's the only man to have sailed a 12-metre astern This was among the Ecrehous, a group of tiny islands a mile closer to Jersey than to France, where the tides rip through at an enormous speed
Knowing he'd have more control if he went through this area slower than the current would take him, he allowed himself to be carried stern first in the direction he wanted to go while sailing on a broad reach
He had an agreement with the lockkeeper at St Malo who, when the tide was right, would open both gates so that Bolitho could sail Morwenna straight into the inner basin
After the War he was instrumental in helping Britain win her case in the international courts when France sued for ownership of the Plateau des Minquiers just off Jersey