In 1968 Mr Beazley reached 65 and his thoughts turned to retirement.  He intended to sell his the assets, then liquidate the company.  For several years the company had co-operated with the Hamburg based salvors Ulrich Harms who had a fleet of modern salvage cranes.  Allan Crothall, then Salvage Manager, suggested that RB sold  the goodwill of the company to Harms, with ACC taking a minority share.   The first joint venture for the new company was the salvage of Brunel's steamer Great Britain in the Falkland Islands, and her transport back to Bristol.  During the next four years Risdon Beazley Ulrich Harms continued it's usual work of cargo recovery and wreck removal whilst acting as an agent for Harms in the UK and France.  In 1972 Ulrich Harms sold his interests to Smit of Rotterdam, including his 83% interest in RBUH, which became part of Smit Tak.  

Risdon Beazley Marine, as the new company was called, continued but salvage was controlled from Rotterdam and the UK company could no longer work in France, an important market for them. At first there was considerable support for RBM in Rotterdam and the company acquired two salvage cranes from the Harms fleet.  But later, when it became necessary to make new investment in the recovery operation to allow the company to work in deeper waters this was refused. Though the recovery operations continued to be profitable, the company declined from 1978 and in the next year it's fate was sealed.   Risdon Beazley was no longer involved, he died early in 1979 . 

RBM closed in 1981, a sad end for an organisation that had quietly, but diligently, served the UK in war and peace and had generated employment for thousands of staff at sea and ashore. The recovery vessels travelled the world; recovering. 55,000 tons of non-ferrous metal, working down to beyond 300 metres. The main work was done under UK government contracts and generated substantial amounts for the UK.