Richard P. Fortune

Captain Richard Percival Fortune RNVR (born 1878) was the founder of the Scouting movement in Ireland. Fortune hosted the first Boy Scout patrol meeting at his home at 3 Dame Street, Dublin in 1908. One of four children born to boarding house keeper Elizabeth Fortune, his time as a mariner ensured early Scouting activities afloat.

His troop quickly took to water activities, and it appears his troop evolved into the 1st Port of Dublin Sea Scout Group as part of the Port of Dublin Sea Scout Association. The 1st Port group received training from the Coastguard at Ringsend.^[1]

The London Gazette of 23 March 1915^[2] shows Fortune was granted a temporary service commission as a Sub-Lieutenant in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve on 16 March 1915. He was subsequently promoted to Lieutenant in March 1916 ^[3] while in command of ML580, the highest numbered of the World War I motor launches, a 37 tonne vessel with a crew of 8. During World War I, he served as part of the Royal Navy Motor Boat Reserve, aboard HMS Thalia, a Juno-class wooden screw corvette used as a base ship from 1915 and in command of various motor launches in the period directly after the war. Fortune's Royal Naval Volunteer service card shows he was demobilised from 31 December 1919, having been earlier had orders cancelled and leave granted to sit for examination as a merchant Master.^[4] His service record notes Fortune as "Scout Master, in charge of Sea Scouts of Spec. Serv Squad."

His son was Captain Desmond Fortune, the founder of the Irish Institute of Master Mariners, in whose name the annual senior seamanship competition for Scouting Ireland is awarded.