In late June 1942 he was commodore to PQ 17. On 4 July he received the controversial Admiralty order to scatter the convoy, and it fell to him to carry this out. The result was a catalogue of ship losses over the next few days; Dowding's ship, "River Afton", was sunk at midday on 5 July, leaving Dowding and two men on a raft in the icy waters for four hours until rescued by the corvette "Lotus". He was taken to Novaya Zemlya where they gathered up two merchant ships and took them to safety at Archangel.