Tributes have been paid to a Furness entrepreneur never far from the limelight due to his experience of – and involvement in – dramatic subsea rescues.

Roger Chapman CBE died peacefully at his home last week aged 74 with his family by his side after 'a long illness valiantly fought'.

Mr Chapman founded subsea rescue company Rumic in 1984 following his own dramatic subsea rescue – an experience that sparked his lifelong commitment to safety at sea.

He hit global headlines in 1973 when his submersible Pisces III sank 480 metres to the bottom of the Atlantic.

A multi-national rescue effort was launched to save him and his colleague Roger Mallinson and after spending 76 hours on the seabed with fewer than 20 minutes of air remaining they were finally plucked from the submersible.

In the years that followed, Mr Chapman transformed the humble manned submersible from an unconventional tool for exploration into the current method for submarine rescue.

After its foundation, Dalton-in-Furness based Rumic was also regularly in the headlines.

Its unique minisub LR5 was mobilised as part of a planned British Royal Navy rescue mission after the Russian Navy’s Oscar-II class nuclear-powered cruise-missile submarine, Kursk, sank in the Barents Sea in August 2000 during an exercise.

When Russia eventually allowed foreign intervention following strong political pressure, it was too late.

Tragically Norwegian divers established that the Kursk was flooded and LR5 was not deployed.

A total of 118 lives were lost in the disaster.   

In 2002 Rumic was bought by Barrow-headquartered global marine company James Fisher.

Three years later members of the Rumic were honoured by Russian president Vladimir Putin for their part in saving seven Russian sailors from suffocation in their stricken submarine.

They had flown to Russia's Kamchatka peninsula in August 2015 with a Scorpio underwater robot and freed a Russian AS-28 mini-submarine, which had been trapped 196 metres under the Pacific Ocean for three days.

The following year, Mr Chapman received a CBE for his services to shipping in recognition of his company’s involvement in the rescue.

Mr Chapman also set up the Rumic Foundation to children in the Furness area by supporting good causes.

His wife June paid tribute to a 'good husband and devoted father'.

He was described as a 'much-loved husband, devoted father to Marcus and Sam, father-in-law to Melly and Jenny, and Papa to Afra and Sunny'.

"He was excellent with the boys and really enjoyed the company of young people which is why we set up the RUMIC Foundation," Mrs Chapman said.

"Our work with the foundation will continue.

"He achieved a huge amount in his life; the incident with the Pisces changed his world."

Mr Chapman's funeral will take place at Broughton Church on Friday, February 7 at 2pm.

The family has asked for no flowers but any donations made during the service will be split between the Royal National Lifeboat Institute and the RUMIC Foundation Trust.