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Abstract
George Thomas, the first naval hydrographic surveyor continuously employed in the nineteenth century, was highly regarded by the three Admiralty hydrographers under whom he served until 1846. An earlier account of his humble origins and youthful adventures, based on the recollections of his clerk, is supported only in part by contemporary records. This recent investigation shows how his considerable ability came to be recognized at the Admiralty, and, until 1814, illustrates his sometimes demanding relationships with his crew, with the Hydrographer, Captain Thomas Hurd, and with the Admiralty and Navy Boards.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to acknowledge helpful comments from the anonymous reviewer and to thank all the staff, past and present, of the archives they have used.
Notes
1 Taverner, George Thomas, 117–21.
2 Jones, The Sea and the Sky, 289, and information from the author.
3 Incidentally, Samuel Taylor Coleridge was Thomas’s contemporary at Christ’s Hospital and apparently derived inspiration for The Rime of the Ancient Mariner from Wales’s accounts of the southern ocean. Robertson, Elements of Navigation.
4 The Private Journal of William Mogg, Southampton University Manuscripts, MS 45 AO 183/1, 76–88.
5 Morrison, True Yankees, 78 and 113; Delano, Narrative of Voyages, 307.
6 The National Archives, Kew (hereafter TNA), ADM 37/1249, Muster Book Medusa, Nov./ Dec. 1806; ADM 51/1595 part 3, Medusa: Log of Capt. Bouverie.
7 TNA, ADM 1/3523, Letters from the Hydrographer of the Navy, 26 Apr. 1808.
8 TNA, ADM 196/68/478, Service Records: George Thomas, Surveyor, Appointed 9 Nov. 1806.
9 TNA, ADM 55/90, Medusa: Log kept by G. Thomas, master’s mate.
10 TNA, ADM 1/5055, Letters Promiscuous T, fo. 193, 30 Jun. 1814.
11 TNA, ADM 6/165, Masters’ Passing Certificates &c, 1800–1850, Ta–To.
12 James, Naval History, vol. 4, 274–7 and 354–6; TNA, ADM 55/90, 86, 97.
13 Friendly, Beaufort of the Admiralty, 164–6.
14 Grainger, Royal Navy in the River Plate; Grainger, British Campaigns, ix.
15 James, Naval History, vol. 4, 356.
16 UK Hydrographic Office Archive (hereafter UKHO), chart 213 Ah 2, Croque Harbour, Newfoundland, 1808; chart A967 Ah2, Port Manvers, Newfoundland, 1808.
17 TNA, ADM 6/165.
18 Webb, British Naval Hydrographic Administration, 55, 93.
19 Norie, Nautical Tables, table 11, 223.
20 TNA, ADM 52/4488, Masters Logs: Fisgard, Jan. to Jul. 1809.
21 James, Naval History, vol. 5, 132.
22 Sir Richard Strachan to Mr Pole, 4 Aug. 1809, A collection of papers relating to the expedition to the Scheldt, 3, No. 17, 408.
23 TNA, ADM 12/144, cut 68.2, 18 Nov. 1809.
24 TNA, ADM 51/1933, Captain’s Log: Fisgard, 1 Jan.–9 Nov. 1809.
25 TNA, ADM 1/5054, 20 Feb 1810; ADM 1/2162, 22 Feb. and 20 Mar. 1810.
26 TNA, ADM 12/144, cut 68.1, 22 Mar. 1810.
27 TNA, ADM 1/3523, fos 331, 423, 425, 427; ADM 12/144, cut 57, 2 Apr. 1810; ADM 12/146, cut 57, 18 and 26 Jun. 1810.
28 TNA, ADM 106/1706, 22 Jun. 1810; ADM 37/2908, muster book Gleaner; ADM 12/146, cut 68–1, 6 Nov. 1810.
29 Letter to the editor from ‘Dead-Eye’, United Service Magazine, May 1839, 108.
30 TNA, ADM 12/146, cut 68-1, 6 Dec. 1810; ADM 12/146, cut 57, 19 Jan. 1811.
31 UKHO, chart F15 Db (ADM 352/809), plan of the harbour of Fowey, etc., published 15 Mar. 1813.
32 UKHO, MB1, 28.
33 TNA, ADM 106/1706, 28 Mar. 1811.
34 Royal Museums Greenwich, Caird Library, ships plans ZAZ 6604 and 6605.
35 TNA, ADM 12/146, cut 57, 8 Apr. 1811 and 15 May 1811.
36 TNA, ADM 12/146, cut 57, 6 to 24 Jun. 1811.
37 TNA, ADM 12/146, cut 68-1, 29 Jul. 1811 and 18 Sep. 1811; UKHO, chart A697 Of, a Survey of the New Gateway into Yarmouth Roads, surveyed by George Thomas, Royal Navy, Nov. 1811.
38 UKHO, MP98 fo.1267, 17 Aug. 1829.
39 TNA, ADM 12/155, cut 57, 31 Mar. 1812, 1 Jun. 1812 and 28 Jun. 1812.
40 TNA, ADM 106/1706, 31 Mar. 1812, 11 Jul. 1812 and 24 Aug. 1812.
41 UKHO, chart 684a shelf Dg, Survey of the Harbour of Liverpool by G. Thomas 1813.
42 TNA, ADM 12/155, cut 68, 4 Jun. 1812; ADM 12/161, cut 57, 18 Nov. 1812; ADM 12/161, cut 57, 14 Mar. 1813; ADM 12/161, cut 57, 25 May 1813.
43 TNA, ADM 55/79, Log kept by George Thomas 1813–14; ADM 2/1084, printed insert at 6 Dec. 1813.
44 Bamford, Triumphs and Disasters, 209; TNA, ADM 55/79, 14–18 Jan. 1814; ADM 51/2474, 14–18 Jan. 1814.
45 TNA, ADM 1/5055, fo. 193, 30 Jun. 1814 (Thomas’s Journals are at TNA, ADM 55/90 and ADM 55/79).
46 Webb, British Naval Hydrographic Administration, 78.
47 Walker, Balta Sound, 5–17 and UKHO, Catalogue of Charts, Plans, Views, 1825 and 1839.
48 Thomas’s charts of the Firth of Forth, the Shetland Islands and the Orkney Islands can readily be viewed in excellent detail on the website of the National Library of Scotland (maps.nls.uk/ coasts).
49 UKHO, LB1, 135, Hurd to Fotheringham, 17 Feb. 1818; LB1, 138, Hurd to Croker 3 Mar. 1818.
50 UKHO, LB2, 95, Parry to Danish Hydrographer, 26 Jan. 1828.
51 UKHO, LB10, 61, Beaufort to Thomas, 10 Jun. 1841.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
David Walker
David Walker is a retired civil engineer who found surveying more difficult in practice than in theory. He has published a series of articles on the triangulation of Scotland in the journal Sheetlines of the Charles Close Society for the Study of Ordnance Survey Maps and he is a member of the Society for Nautical Research.
Adrian Webb
Adrian Webb is Head of Archive at the UK Hydrographic Office. The title of his DPhil thesis at the University of Exeter was ‘The Expansion of British Naval Hydrographic Administration, 1808–29’. His publications include a book on the first detailed hydrographic survey of Bermuda and contributions to The Maritime History of Cornwall, The Mariner’s Mirror and editing the Maritime History of Somerset series.