Hydrographer Of The Navy
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The Hydrographer of the Navy is the principal
hydrographical Hydrography is the branch of applied sciences which deals with the measurement and description of the physical features of oceans, seas, Coast, coastal areas, lakes and rivers, as well as with the prediction of their change over time, for the pr ...
Royal Naval appointment. From 1795 until 2001, the post was responsible for the production of charts for the
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...
, and around this post grew the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office (UKHO). In 2001, the post was disassociated from UKHO, and the Hydrographer of the Navy is now a title bestowed upon the current captain—hydrography and meteorology—on the staff of the Devonport Flotilla at HMNB Devonport.


History

Before the establishment of the post, captains of Royal Navy ships were responsible for the provision of their own charts. In practice this meant that ships often sailed with inadequate information for safe navigation, and that when new areas were surveyed, the data rarely reached all those who needed it. The Admiralty appointed Alexander Dalrymple as hydrographer on 12 August 1795, with a remit to gather and distribute charts to HM Ships. Within a year existing charts had been collated, and the first catalogue published. It was five years before the first chart—of Quiberon Bay in
Brittany Brittany ( ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the north-west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica in Roman Gaul. It became an Kingdom of Brittany, independent kingdom and then a Duch ...
—was produced by the Hydrographer. Under Dalrymple's successor, Captain Thomas Hurd, Admiralty charts were sold to the general public, and by 1825, there were 736 charts listed in the catalogue. In 1829, the first Sailing Directions were published, and in 1833, under Rear-Admiral 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 ...
—of the eponymous Beaufort scale—the tide tables were first published. Notices to Mariners came out in 1834, allowing for the timely correction of charts already in use. Beaufort was certainly responsible for a step change in output; by the time he left the office in 1855, the Hydrographic Office had a catalogue of nearly 2,000 charts and was producing over 130,000 charts, of which about half were provided to the Royal Navy and half sold. In 1939, on the outbreak of
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, the Hydrographic Office moved to
Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England. It is a market town and has a Minster (church), minster church. Its population in 2011 was 64,621. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century priory, monastic foundation, owned by the ...
, and the post of hydrographer moved with it. In 2001, a chief executive was appointed to run the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office as a profit-making agency of the British government, and at this time the roles of National Hydrographer and Hydrographer of the Navy were divided. The title of hydrographer devolved to Captain (hydrography and meteorology), a senior officer on the staff of the Commodore of the Devonport Flotilla, and the senior Royal Navy officer within the HM branch. , the post has been renamed Captain (HM Ops), but continues to carry the title Hydrographer of the Navy.


List of hydrographers

* 1795–1808: Alexander Dalrymple * 1808–1823: Captain Thomas Hurd * 1823–1829: Rear Admiral Sir Edward Parry * 1829–1855: Rear Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort * 1855–1863: Rear Admiral John Washington * 1863–1874: Vice Admiral Sir George Richards * 1874–1884: Captain Sir Frederick Evans * 1884–1904: Rear Admiral Sir William Wharton * 1904–1909: Rear Admiral Sir Arthur Mostyn Field * 1909–1914: Rear Admiral Sir Herbert Purey-Cust * 1914–1919: Rear Admiral Sir John Parry * 1919–1924: Vice Admiral Sir Frederick Learmonth * 1924–1932: Vice Admiral Sir Percy Douglas * 1932–1945: Vice Admiral Sir John Edgell * 1945–1950: Rear Admiral Arthur Norris Wyatt * 1950–1955: Vice Admiral Sir Archibald Day * 1955–1960: Rear Admiral Kenneth Collins * 1960–1966: Rear Admiral Sir Edmund Irving * 1966–1971: Rear Admiral Steve Ritchie * 1971–1975: Rear Admiral Geoffrey Hall * 1975–1985: Rear Admiral Sir David Haslam * 1985–1990: Rear Admiral Roger Morris * 1990–1994: Rear Admiral John Myres * 1994–1996: Rear Admiral Sir Nigel Essenhigh * 1996–2001: Rear Admiral John Clarke * 2001–2003: Captain Mike Barritt * 2003–2005: Captain David Lye * 2005–2007: Captain Ian Turner * 2007–2010: Captain Robert Stewart * 2010–2012: Captain Vaughan Nail * 2012–2013: Captain Stephen Malcolm * 2013–2016: Captain David Robertson * 2016–2017: Captain Matt Syrett * 2017–2019: Captain Gary Hesling * 2019–2021: Captain Derek Rae * 2021–2023: Commander Mathew J Warren * 2023-: Rear Admiral Angus Essenhigh


Notes


References


External links

* {{Authority control Hydrography National hydrographic offices Royal Navy appointments