Admiral
Admiral is one of the highest ranks in many navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force. Admiral is ranked above vice admiral and below admiral of ...
Sir Bartholomew James Sulivan, (18 November 1810 – 1 January 1890) was a
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies.
* British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
naval officer and
hydrographer. He was a leading advocate of the value of nautical surveying in relation to naval operations.
Sulivan was born at
Mylor,
Cornwall
Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...
, near
Falmouth,
[''1871 England Census''] the son of Rear Admiral
Thomas Ball Sulivan.
His early career included service under
Robert FitzRoy
Vice-Admiral Robert FitzRoy (5 July 1805 – 30 April 1865) was an English officer of the Royal Navy, politician and scientist who served as the second governor of New Zealand between 1843 and 1845. He achieved lasting fame as the captain of ...
on the
second voyage of
HMS ''Beagle'' from 1831 to 1836 with
Charles Darwin
Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English Natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...
, during which
Bartolomé Island in the
Galapagos Islands was named after him. From 1842 to 1846 he commanded
HMS ''Philomel'' on the South American Station and surveyed the
Falkland Islands
The Falkland Islands (; ), commonly referred to as The Falklands, is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and from Cape Dub ...
.
[
He was the commander of the combined Anglo-French fleet at the Battle of Vuelta de Obligado which took place on 20 November 1845.]Crimean War
The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...
he was sent by Sir Francis Beaufort
Sir Francis Beaufort ( ; 27 May 1774 – 17 December 1857) was an Irish hydrographer and naval officer who created the Beaufort cipher and the Beaufort scale.
Early life
Francis Beaufort was descended from French Protestant Hugu ...
, Hydrographer of the Navy, to the Baltic
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*Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian
*Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originatin ...
to assist the fleet commanded by Sir Charles Napier. Sulivan, commanding the paddle steamer HMS ''Lightning'', made many invaluable surveys and charts of the shallow waters in which the fleet had to operate, and led the bombardment ships into position during the capture of Bomarsund in 1854. From 1856 to 1865 he was the naval professional member of the Board of Trade
The Board of Trade is a British government body concerned with commerce and industry, currently within the Department for Business and Trade. Its full title is The Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of ...
. He was promoted to vice-admiral
Vice admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, usually equivalent to lieutenant general and air marshal. A vice admiral is typically senior to a rear admiral and junior to an admiral.
Australia
In the Royal Australian Navy, the rank of vic ...
in 1870, and admiral in 1877.[
He received a CB in July 1855 and later a KCB in the June 1869 Birthday Honours.][
The Falkland Islands issued a set of stamps in 1985 for "Early Cartographers maps", the ship ''Philomel'' is featured on the fourth in set, 54p stamp along with a portrait of Admiral Sir B. J. Sulivan K.C.B.]
References
External links
*
*
Book ''Life and letters of the late Admiral Sir Bartholomew James Sulivan, K. C. B., 1810–1890''
published in 1896, available online
External links
1810 births
1890 deaths
Royal Navy personnel of the Crimean War
Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath
Royal Navy admirals
English hydrographers
Scientists from Cornwall
People from Flushing, Cornwall
Sailors from Cornwall
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