Highland Yacht Club and secret loch
? The Oban Times
? 19 Sep 2019
? IAIN THORNBER

Captain Colville, who was a popular and well-liked resident landowner in Morvern, had a distinguished military career. Before the Second World War he had been a keen canoeist. Shortly after hostilities began, he volunteered for what was termed ?special and hazardous service?, and in 1942 was recruited by the Small Scale Raiding Force (SSRF) within 62 Commando. Later he joined the Special Boat Service where he became a canoeing instructor.
In the summer of 1943, he trained at Loch a? Choire, Kingairloch, on one-man midget submarines called Welman. That year he was injured and after convalescing was re-recruited in July 1944 by Special Operations Executive to work on the Welfreighter. These were top secret, 37ft cargo submersibles, designed with the highly dangerous objective of transporting mines and special forces personnel on raiding and sabotage operations in enemy-held ports and coastal waters. Later he served in the British section of Australian units interrogating former Japanese PoW in the Philippines and the Palau Islands before returning to Australia and becoming eligible for repatriation. He was demobbed in 1946 and remained a keen canoeist all through his life.