Marc Eyriès, French Navy’s Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service (SHOM)

Marc Eyriès, ingénieur général de l'armement (hydrographe), passed away on 9 August. The people who served under his command will remember him as a rigorous and demanding man, who at the same time was very human and possessed a natural kindness.
Born in 1919, Marc Eyriès joined the French National Navy in 1939. Soon after the naval academy, he was assigned overseas and during the war he served in the Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea and the Channel. Then he participated in mine clearing operations, after which he joined the hydrographic service of the Navy in 1949. Since then, his activities were solely dedicated to national and international hydrography and oceanography. He took part in the hydrographic campaigns on the French and Moroccan coasts in 1950–1951. He led a campaign on the coast of Madagascar in 1951–1952 and one on the French coast in 1961–1962.
A great scientist as well as a great engineer, he was a pioneer in dynamics at oceanic scale and contributed significantly to France's top position in that field.
On 5 October 1981, Marc Eyriès ceased his activities as managing director of the Navy’s hydrographic and oceanographic service, which had been his position since 1 February 1976. It was the end of an impressive career that had brought him world fame in the hydrographic and oceanographic field.
He was Commander of the Legion of Honor, Commander of the National Order of Merit, decorated with the Medal of the War Cross 1939–1945 with Palm, officer in the Order of Academic Palms, Naval Merit Officer and Chevalier of the Anjouan Star Order and of the Black Star Order. His scientific and technical research allowed him to be awarded the Plumey Prize of the Académie des Sciences in 1964 and the Grande Médaille d’or of the Ordre des Géomètres in 1978.
Present and retired hydrographers, are all sad today that Marc Eyriès has died and deeply sympathise with the grief his family and friends must all be feeling.