Cuthbert Grasemann (d 1962) was a railwayman who rose to be Public Relations Officer of the Southern Railway, and later of the Southern Region of British Railways. He had a particular interest in the cross-channel ships and was co-author, with G.W.P. McLachlan, of English Channel Packet Boats (1939).
In 1821 a small group of London businessmen and steam packet operators formed a syndicate for the purpose of developing steam-ship communication. The success of this venture prompted the membership to turn the existing arrangement into a joint stock undertaking and in 1824 the General Steam Navigation Company was incorporated by private Act of Parliament. One of the earliest steamship concerns on the Thames and almost certainly the first to operate a steamer service to foreign ports, the new company began to increase its tonnage and by the time of the first half-yearly meeting of the shareholders owned fifteen steamers; by 1834 it had won the contract for carrying the mails from London to Boulogne, Ostend, Rotterdam and Hamburg. Earlier, in the mid-1820s, the company had gained permission for its ships to engage in the movement of goods as well as passengers, whereupon it moved into the carriage of live cattle from the Continent, a trade upon which the prosperity of the company was to be founded for much of the nineteenth century. In 1836 the company acquired the London and Edinburgh Steam Packet Company, a purchase which included six steamers and property in both London and Edinburgh. Soon afterwards the Margate Steam Packet Company was also taken over and by 1840 the General Steam Navigation Company operated forty steamers serving all the principal East Coast and near Continental ports. After its early success the company encountered a number of setbacks. The railways began to affect the passenger business while the cattle trade was adversely affected, by an outbreak of plague on the Continent and also by the Order-in-Council of 1884 prohibiting the carriage of live cattle, which by the early 1890s had virtually put an end to this trade. In 1902, under the chairmanship of Richard White (d.1926), the structure of the company was reorganised and its capital reduced. During this period the company consolidated its long association with the London river, where in the 1880s it had successfully revived the excursion trade between the capital, Southend and the North Kent resorts. At the same time it took over the firm of John Crisp and Sons, whose activities included not only a service between London and East Anglia, but the river trade as well, a transaction which incidentally made G.S.N. the operator of a fleet of Norfolk wherries. At this time the G.S.N. company also began to develop its wharf age interests near Tower Bridge, an extension of its shore-side activities which had begun in 1825 when it had taken over a yard at Deptford for the building, maintenance and repair of its ships. At the end of the First World War, the company was able to expand its interests in several fields but larger companies, keen to acquire a fleet of smaller ships to provide feeder services and a network of agency services for their own vessels, began to look at the potential of G.S.N. in this respect and in 1920 it was taken over by the P and 0 Company. In turn, G.S.N. acquired several other small companies. Although wholly owned by the larger company, the G.S.N. Company led a largely autonomous existence until 1971. In this year the P and 0 Group, as it had now become, reorganised its subsidiaries and the old G.S.N. Company became a part of P and 0 European and Air Transport Division. See L Cope Cornford, A Century of sea trading (London, 1924); H.E. Hancock, Semper Fideles: The Saga of the Navvies (London, 1949).
See sub-fonds level descriptions for individual biographies.
After qualifying at Cambridge, Heald served in the Navy as a Temporary Surgeon, 1914 to 1915. He was in the ROHILLA, hospital ship, which was wrecked in 1914, and then the CONQUEROR. He was subsequently Principal Medical Officer, RAF, Middle East, and Medical Adviser, Department of Civil Aviation, Air Ministry. Dr Heald was Consulting Physician to the Royal Free Hospital and Consulting Physician, Rheumatic Diseases at the Middlesex Hospital.
This officer, known throughout his naval career as Hallowell, took the additional name of Carew in 1828. In 1783 he was a lieutenant, becoming a commander in 1790. He served off Africa and was in the Mediterranean as one of Nelson's 'Band of Brothers'. In 1812 he hoisted his flag in the MALTA, again in the Mediterranean, where he remained until the peace. He was Commander-in-Chief on the coast of Ireland, 1816 to 1818, and at the Nore, 1821 to 1824. Attaining the rank of vice-admiral in 1819, he was advanced to admiral in 1830.
Montgomerie was a brother of Hugh Montgomerie, 12th Earl of Eglinton. The family intermarried with the Hamiltons of Rozelle, Ayrshire. The two families managed and commanded East India Company ships for nearly fifty years. Montgomerie was commander of the BESBOROUGH for three voyages, 1777 to 1788, and commander and managing owner of the BONHAM CASTLE on her first voyage, 1793 to 1794. He was managing owner of the ship for her next three voyages, between 1795 and 1801, which were made under the command of his cousin, John Hamilton.
Hampshire entered the Navy in 1888. He served from 1890 to 1892 in the Benbow and Immortalite, Mediterranean Station and from late 1892 in the Cleopatra, North America and West Indies Station. He became a lieutenant in 1896 and retired in 1910 as a commander, although he served again during the First World War. He was present at the Dardanelles landing and later commanded the ST GEORGE, base ship at Mudros.
Cedric S. Holland (affectionately known as "Hookey") joined HMS BRITANNIA as a Cadet in 1905 and went on to serve in the Royal Navy from 1906 until his retirement in 1946. His early career saw him serving as Midshipman on the HMS SUFFOLK, the HMS IRRESISTIBLE and the HMS BULWARK (1906-1909). He was promoted to Lieutenant on the 31st August 1911, going on to serve on the HMS SHANNON with the Grand Fleet at Scapa Flow, August-November 1914. He also served as Squadron Wireless Officer with HMS REVENGE during the Turko-Greek conflict (1920). From July 1928-August 1929, Holland commanded the HMS KENT in China, SE Asia and Japan. During this time he attended the funeral of Dr Sun Yat Sen (31st May 1929) and the annual Naval Regatta at Wei-Hai-Wei. As Captain of the HMS KEMPENFELT (1934-1936) he served in the Mediterranean. He was Naval Attache for France, Holland, Belgium, Spain and Portugal from January 1938 to April 1940 and was also Head of the Naval Mission to the French Admiralty from the outbreak of war until April 1940. Holland commanded the aircraft carrier HMS ARK ROYAL from May 1940 to May 1941 and it was during this time that he undertook the role for which he will be most remembered, that of chief negotiator with the French during the Mers el Kebir affair (July 1940). From May 1941 to January 1942 he held the post of Chief of Staff to Lord Gort at Gibraltar and was appointed Director of Naval Communications at Admiralty from January 1942 until November 1943, during which time he was promoted to Rear Admiral (6th February 1942). Holland served as Principal Administrative Officer for the Navy in South-East Asia from November 1943 to September 1945 - the first appointment of this kind ever made. He received promotion to Vice-Admiral on the 1st June 1945 and was actively involved in planning and executing the re-occupation of Singapore in September 1945. Vice-Admiral Holland retired from active service in 1946.
E.S. Houlder started business as a ship and insurance broker in 1853 and soon began specializing in the Australian trade. when his brother joined him in 1856, the name Houlder Brothers and Company was adopted. They soon began owning ships and extended their regular service to Australia to New Zealand. The search for return cargoes led them to the Pacific Islands and by the end of the 1860s an interest in the carriage of contract cargoes resulted in voyages to India and South Africa. In 1881 the Company turned its attention to the South American trade and was responsible for the first shipments of frozen meat from the River Plate. The partnership became a limited liability company in 1898. In 1911, Furness Withy (q.v.) acquired a large holding of the Company's shares. Interests in the Australian and other trades were sold in 1912 and the Company concentrated its activities on the development and extension of its South American trade and in particular the River Plate meat trade. An associate company, Empire Transport Co Ltd, had been set up in 1902 and joint ventures with Furness Withy included: British & Argentine Steam Navigation Co Ltd, 1911 to 1933, British Empire Steam Navigation Co Ltd, 1914, and Furness Houlder Argentine Line Ltd, 1915. During the inter-war period oil tankers were added to the facilities for handling bulk cargoes. A large holding in the Alexander Shipping Co Ltd was purchased in 1938 and a controlling interest was acquired in 1947. After the Second World War, the interest in the South American trade was maintained and the bulk shipping activities were further diversified by the addition of ore carriers and gas tankers. Houlder Brothers became a wholly owned subsidiary of Furness Withy.
Atlases, maps and plans - documents.
Keppel entered the Navy in 1822 and was promoted to lieutenant in 1828, when he was appointed to the GALATEA in home waters and later in the West Indies. He then went to the East Indies in the MAGICIENNE. In 1833, he was promoted to commander and the following year commanded the CHILDERS off Spain during the Carlist War. In 1837, he was promoted to captain and in 1841 commanded the DIDO during the China War. After this he remained in the East Indies, helping Sir James Brooke (1803-1868) to suppress pirates off Borneo. He commanded, after two years on half-pay, the MEANDER on the same station, returning to England in 1851. In 1853 he was appointed to the ST JOAN D'ACR in the Baltic and then, in 1855, went to the RODNEY in the Black Sea, serving with distinction in the Crimea. In 1856 he went again to China where he lost his ship the RALEIGH; Keppel was acquitted in the subsequent court martial. He commandeered the Hong Kong, a river steamer, and at the battle of Fatshan Creek, on the Canton River, destroyed a powerful force of pirates in 1857, the year he was promoted to rear-admiral. In 1860 he was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Cape and Brazil Station. He became a vice-admiral in 1864 and from 1866 to 1869 commanded the China Squadron. Between 1872 and 1875 he was Commander-in-Chief at Devonport and in 1877 was promoted to Admiral of the Fleet. Keppel published his memoirs, A sailors life under four sovereigns (London, 1899). See also Sir Algernon Edward West, Memoir of Sir Henry Keppel G.C.B. Admiral of the Fleet (London, 1945) and V.E. Stuart, The beloved little admiral (London, 1967).
Hamilton entered the Navy in 1822 and became a lieutenant in 1829. Between 1826 and 1830 he served in the CAMBRIAN in the Mediterranean and on the South American Station. From 1839 he spent four years sheep farming in Australia. He was promoted to captain on the retired list in 1856.
Hawke entered the Navy in 1720 and was promoted to lieutenant in 1729. He served in the Mediterranean, West Indies and off the West African coast between periods on half pay and became a captain in 1734. At the outbreak of war in 1739 he blockaded Barbados for four years until his appointment to the Berwick, in which he took a noteworthy part in the battle of Toulon and remained in the Mediterranean for the next eighteen months. After a brief period at home he was appointed, in 1747, vice-admiral and second-in-command of the Channel Fleet under Sir Peter Warren (1703-1752), and he succeeded to the command when Warren fell ill. His decisive victory off Finisterre in 1747 won him a knighthood and, in December of that year, he was elected a Member of Parliament for Portsmouth, a seat he held for thirty years. When peace came he commanded the Channel Fleet until 1752. In 1755 he again hoisted his flag, in the ST GEORGE, and was appointed to the Western Squadron. He was sent to the Mediterranean in June 1756 but was too late to prevent Minorca falling to the French. Having been promoted to admiral in 1757 and appointed to command the Channel Fleet, he took part in the Rochefort expedition. He held this command again in 1759 in the ROYAL GEORGE, enforced the blockade of Brest and won a decisive victory at Quiberon Bay. From 1766 to 1771 Hawke was First Lord of the Admiralty and was raised to the peerage in 1776. See Montagu Burrows, The Life of Edward, Lord Hawke (London, 1883) and Ruddock F. Mackay, Admiral Hawke (Oxford, 1965).
Margaret Bruce married Thomas Henry Ismay (1837-1899) in 1859. At this time Ismay was running a fleet of sailing ships to the west coast of South America. In 1864 he became director of a steamship line trading between Liverpool and New York and in 1867 purchased the White Star Line, which ran fast sailing ships to Australia and New Zealand and which found itself in difficulties through lack of capital. Soon afterwards he set up the firm of Ismay, Imrie and Company and the partners and he established the Oceanic Steam Navigation Company (generally known as the White Star Line). In 1902 the Company was taken over by the new American Combine, the International Mercantile Marine Co., but their ships still sailed under the British flag.
Howard Kelly, brother of Sir John Kelly, served in the TEMERAIRE and CRUISER in the Mediterranean between 1889 and 1892 and was promoted to lieutenant in 1894. From 1902 to 1904 he served in Somaliland, returning from the East Indies Station in 1906. He was in naval intelligence from 1907, promoted to captain in 1911 and was then naval attachee; in Paris for three years. In 1914 he was given command of the GLOUCESTER and won distinction by his determined chase of the GOEBEN. He was Commodore of the Light Cruiser Squadron, 1917, and, in 1918, of the British Adriatic Force. Between 1919 and 1921 he was head of the Naval Mission to Greece and was promoted to rear-admiral in 1922. In the next year he commanded the First Battle Squadron and in 1925 the Second Cruiser Squadron. He was promoted to vice-admiral in 1927 and for the next two years he commanded the First Battle Squadron. After this he was second-in-command, Mediterranean Fleet, until 1930. In 1931 he became an admiral and went out to China until 1933, as Commander-in-Chief of the station. Kelly retired in 1936. He visited Australia in 1938 and then went to lecture in Canada in 1940. From that year until 1944 he was naval representative in Turkey.
Keppel entered the Navy in 1735 and served off the coast of Guinea and then in the Mediterranean. In 1740 he accompanied Anson on his voyage round the world. Anson promoted him to acting lieutenant, which rank was confirmed on Keppel's return to England in 1744. In 1745 his ship ran aground off Belle Isle and he and his crew were taken prisoner by the French; later Keppel was released on parole. After peace was made, in 1748, he was made a captain and sent out in the CENTURION to the Mediterranean as Commander-in-Chief and Ambassador to the States of Barbary to treat with the Dey of Algiers. In 1754 he was appointed to take command of the North American Station and returned home when Boscawen relieved him. In 1755 he was Member of Parliament for Chichester and represented two other constituencies until 1782. He sat as a member of the court martial on Admiral John Byng (1704-1757). In 1758 he was put in command of a squadron which captured Goree, and in 1759 joined Hawke's squadron and fought at Quiberon Bay. He was the naval commander of the force which reduced Belle Isle in 1761 and in 1762 went as second-in-command of the naval forces in the Havana Expedition. when the Commander-in-Chief, Sir George Pocock (1706-1792), returned to England, Keppel was left in command, appointed rear-admiral and remained for a time at Jamaica until the peace. In 1765 and 1766 he was on the Admiralty Board, was promoted to vice-admiral in 1770 and to admiral in 1778. He was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Channel Fleet in 1778, when the French entered the American War of Independence. After the inconclusive battle off Ushant, Keppel and his deputy, Palliser (1723-1796), blamed each other. At the subsequent court martial requested by Keppel, he was acquitted but soon afterwards struck his flag; this ended his active service. He was briefly First Lord of the Admiralty, for two short periods in 1782 and 1783, and was created Viscount Keppel in 1782. See Thomas Robert Keppel, The Life of Augustus Viscount Keppel (London, 1842).
Brice was made lieutenant in 1756, commander in 1761, captain in 1762 and served in the West Indies until 1764. In 1766 he changed his name to Kingsmill when his wife received an inheritance. In 1778 he took part in the action off Ushant but declined to serve again until the fall of Lord Sandwich's administration at the Admiralty. He sat for Yarmouth, Isle of Wight, 1779 to 1780. He was appointed in 1783 to the ELIZABETH which served as a guardship until 1786. From 1784 until 1790 he was Member of Parliament for Tregony, Cornwall. Kingsmill was promoted to rear-admiral in 1793 and was appointed Commander-in-Chief on the Cork Station in the SWIFTSURE and POLYPHEMUS, during which time he had to contend with the French invasion of Ireland, 1797. He held this post until 1800 and was promoted to admiral in 1799.
Larking entered the Navy in 1889, served on the Mediterranean, West Indian and China Stations and became a lieutenant in 1898. He retired from active service in 1906. On the retired list he was promoted to commander in 1916 and to captain in 1918. He was Naval Attachee in Rome from 1915 to 1919 and in the Balkans from 1939 to 1941. He was then recalled to the Admiralty until 1945.
Michael Arthur Lewis was a prominent naval historian, educator, and writer. In 1913, he joined the staff of the Royal Naval School at Osborne, and transferred to the Royal Naval College at Dartmouth in 1922. From 1934 to his retirement in 1955, he was Professor of Naval History and English at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich. He died in 1970. He was, as some items of correspondence he received shows, an active member of the Society for Nautical Research. He was also heavily involved in the Navy Records Society, for whom he edited a manuscript written by Admiral William Henry Dillon which is listed here as LES/6/7. He had close professional ties to many other naval historians, including Sir Geoffrey Callender (1875-1946), the first chair of Naval History at Greenwich and the founding director of the National Maritime Museum; Sir Julian Corbett (1854-1922), lecturer at the Royal Naval War College, Greenwich; Lieutenant Commander George Prideaux Brabant Naish (1909-1977), Keeper and Historical Consultant to the Director at the National Maritime Museum; Roger Charles Anderson (1883-1976), Trustee of the National Maritime Museum and Chairman of Trustees 1959-1962; Leonard Carr-Laughton, Admiralty Librarian; and David Bonner-Smith, one of Carr-Laughton's successors as Admiralty Librarian.
Lewis was made a lieutenant in 1761 and, unusually, went to Germany on a diplomatic mission as a private secretary between 1776 and 1778. He was then recommended to Lord Carlisle (1748-1825) as a secretary and in April 1778 sailed in the TRIDENT, Captain John Elliot, with the unsuccessful Peace Commission to America. In 1781 Lewis was First Lieutenant of the SAMPSON and then Commander of the PLUTO in 1782. He was promoted to captain in the same year when he commanded the Romney but had no naval service after 1783. In 1779 his brother died and he succeeded to the family property of Gellidywyll, Cenarth, Carmarthen.
Lister entered the Navy in 1916. He qualified in engineering as a lieutenant in 1924, was Commander (E) in the Newcastle, 1943 to 1945, and served in the Engineer-in-Chief's department, 1946 to 1949. Lister had become Captain (E) in 1946 and in 1950 joined the Mechanical Training and Repair Establishment at Portsmouth where he remained until his retirement in 1953.
Merchant Shipping: Logs
Basil Lubbock (1876-1944) was educated at Eton and in 1897 went to Canada and on to the KLONDYKE in the second year of the gold rush. He shipped home in 1899 from the West Coast round the Horn as an ordinary seaman on the four-masted barque ROYALSHIRE, a voyage recorded in his Round the Horn Before the Mast (London, 1902). After the First World War Lubbock devoted himself to recording the history of sailing ships between 1850 and 1930 in a series of over fifteen volumes, most of which are still in print as standard reference works. These include The China Clippers (1914), The Colonial Clippers (1921), The Blackwall Frigates (1922), The Last of the Windjammers (2 vols, 1927-8) and his last book The Arctic Whalers (1937).
Leveson-Gower entered the Navy as a cadet in the BRITANNIA from 1903 until 1905, when he joined the ISIS; in August of the same year he went to the COMMONWEALTH and, apart from a short period in the MARS in 1907, stayed in her until 1908, when he joined the AFRICA; all these ships were based in home waters. As a sub-lieutenant he was on the Mediterranean Station in the DIANA, 1909 to 1910, becoming a lieutenant in 1911. During the First World War he served again in the Mediterranean in the RACOON, 1913 to 1915, the SAPPHO, 1916 to 1917, and the MINERVA, 1918 to 1919, when he became a lieutenant-commander. Between 1920 and 1921 he was in the DAUNTLESS and from 1922 to 1924 was in the COLOMBO, both in home waters. He went out to Hong Kong in 1926 and served in the dockyard there until 1928, retiring as a commander in 1929.
Maclear entered the Navy in 1851, became a lieutenant in 1859 and a commander in 1868. He sailed with Captain G.S. Nares in 1872 during the CHALLENGER expedition. When Nares left the ship at Hong Kong, Maclear was the most senior officer to complete the voyage which lasted until 1876, the year he was promoted to captain. In 1879 he succeeded Nares in command of the ALERT and completed his survey of the Magellan Straits before moving to the Indian Ocean and Australian waters. From 1883 to 1887 he commanded the survey ship FLYING FISH charting the Korean and China coasts. In 1891 he became a rear-admiral and retired. He was promoted to vice-admiral in 1897, to admiral in 1903 and continued working at the Hydrographic Department compiling Admiralty sailing directions. See: Sir Archibald Day, The Admiralty Hydrographic Service (London, 1967).
Robert Marsham was the second son of Charles, 2nd Earl of Romney in direct descent of Sir Cloudesley Shovell through his elder daughter Elizabeth. He assumed the second name of Townshend by Royal Licence in 1893. Marsham-Townshend was educated first at Eton and then at Christ Church, Oxford.
William Henry Maxwell entered the Royal Navy as a Cadet on 12 January 1854. He served in HMS EURYALUS in the Baltic during the war with Russia, January 1854-April 1856, and was appointed Midshipman on 12 January 1856. He was promoted to Mate on 11 January 1860 whilst serving in HMS BOSCAWEN at Cape Station, May 1856-March 1860. After rising to the rank of Lieutenant on 13 January 1860, he served in HMS LYRA on the east coast of Africa, March 1860-January 1862, taking as prize a Spanish slaving barque and 18-20 Arab slave dhows, and freeing and landing 200 slaves on the Seychelles. He was made Commander on 6 July 1866 whilst serving in HMS SUTLEJ in the Pacific, May 1863-September 1866. During 1868 and 1869, he was on board HMS OCTAVIA and HMS DRYAD, when he participated in the Abyssinian Expedition, voyaged to the East Indies, and took an Arab slave dhow as a prize on the coast of Madagascar, again freeing and landing 200 slaves on the Seychelles.
Maxwell served at HMS EXCELLENT, the School of Gunnery, Portsmouth, from November 1869 to November 1872, receiving a promotion to the rank of Captain on 29 November 1872. He then served as Captain in HMS EMERALD at the Australian Station, July 1878-August 1882, and from March 1883 to early 1885 he was in HMS NEPTUNE as part of the Channel Fleet. He acted as Aide-de-Camp to Queen Victoria in Hong Kong, 1887-1888, and after his return to Britain, was appointed Rear-Admiral on 1 January 1889 and Vice-Admiral on 9 December 1894, before retiring from the Navy on 25 June 1895. He subsequently acted as Conservator of the Thames, 1896-1906, during which time he was promoted to the rank of Admiral, Retired on 21 March 1900. Maxwell died on 1 July 1920.
Chief Inspectorate General of the Chinses Imperial Maritime Customs, 1929- 43. Maze joined the Chinese Customs Service in the closing period of Sir Robert Hart's tenure. He also served on the Chinese Government's Monetary Advisory Commitee in 1935. Maze became interested in Chinese vessels, especially Junks and in particular the 'crooked stern' junks of Fou Chou. He also maintained an interest in light houses, especially the Amherst Rocks. Maze was awarded various Chinese honours, as well as 'Knight Commander of the Order of Pope Pius IX'. Maze also published The Chinese Maritime Customs Service: A Brief Synopsis of its Genesis and Development.
Madden entered the Navy in 1919 and after training at Osborne and at Dartmouth served in the THUNDERER training ship in 1923, then in the WARWICK, Fifth Destroyer Flotilla, in the Atlantic, and in the REPULSE in the Atlantic Fleet. He served in the VICTORIA AND ALBERT in 1927, after which he trained as a pilot in the Fleet Air Arm. In 1934 he qualified at the Navigation School, HMS DRYAD, serving subsequently as navigator for a short period in the MALAYA, Atlantic Fleet, in the SANDWICH, on the China Station, 1934 to 1936, and the ORION in North America, 1939. During the Second World War he served in Naval Intelligence and with the Fleet Air Arm. He retired in 1950.
Robert Dundas, only son of Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville (q.v.), entered Parliament as representative for Hastings, 1794 to 1796, Rye, 1796 to 1801 and Edinburghshire, 1801 to 1811. He first came into prominence when he defended his father against impeachment in 1806. In 1807 he was made President of the Board of Control. In 1809 he was briefly Irish Secretary before resuming his former office. From 1812 to 1827 he was First Lord of the Admiralty, resigning because he refused to serve under Canning. He held the office again from 1828 to 1830.
Milne entered the Navy in 1779 and served in the Canada until the end of the American War in the Channel and the West Indies. During the peace he was employed in merchant ships, among them the East Indiaman, General Eliott, 1788 to 1790. At the out-break of war, 1793, he went in the Boyne to the West Indies and subsequently joined the BLANCHE, in which ship he earned promotion to lieutenant for capturing La Pique in 1794. He became commander and captain in 1795 and was appointed to the command of LA PIQUE in 1796. After two years service in the West Indies and the Channel, Milne, whilst taking La Seine, lost LA PIQUE in action off Brittany and returned to the West Indies in LA SEINE. On renewal of the war in 1803, he was Commander-in-Chief at Leith until 1808, after which he had a period ashore in command of the SEA FENCIBLES. He was then appointed to the Channel Fleet in the IMPETUEUX, 1811 to 1812, and to the VENERABLE, 1812 to 1813. From 1813 to 1814, when he became a rear-admiral, he was in North America in the Bulwark. Milne was Commander-in-Chief of the Halifax Station, 1816 to 1819, but before he departed, served as second-in-command to Lord Exmouth (q.v.) at the battle of Algiers, 1816. He was made a vice-admiral in 1825 and an admiral in 1841. His only further service was as Commander-in-Chief, Plymouth, 1842 to 1845, and he died during his journey home to Scotland.
Granville Murray-Browne became a midshipman in March 1902, serving first in the HOGUE and from 1904 in the KENT. He became a sub-lieutenant in 1905 and, after studying at Portsmouth joined the DRAGON in 1906. He was made a lieutenant in 1907 and joined the VICTORIOUS in 1908. From 1909 he commanded TB106 (Tender to VIVID at Devonport) and, from December 1909, TB055 (Tender to HOOD at Queenstown). The ACHILLES was his next ship, in 1911, and two years later he joined the INDEFATIGABLE. In 1915 he was promoted to lieutenant-commander. He was killed in action at the Battle of Jutland when the INDEFATIGABLE was sunk on 31 May 1916.
Mason entered the Navy in 1803 and served on the Channel Station and then in the AMPHION, Mediterranean. He was captured by the French in 1809, escaped the following year and was made a lieutenant in 1811. His subsequent service was off Lisbon and in the Mediterranean. He was promoted to commander in 1815, after which he saw no further active service.
J.D. Nares, son of Sir George Strong Nares, was a midshipman in the CRESCENT, RAPID and ORLANDO, Australian Station, between 1894 and 1897. He became a lieutenant in 1900, commander in 1913 and captain in 1919, serving in numerous survey ships including the IROQUOIS, which he commanded in 1928 on the China Station. From 1924 to 1928, 1930 to 1931 and 1940 to 1945, he was Assistant Hydrographer and Naval Assistant to the Hydrographer. In 1952 he was made Director of the International Hydrographic Bureau at Monaco.
Noel entered the Navy in 1859. He served as a midshipman in the Hannibal, Mediterranean, from 1859 to 1861 and in the SHANNON in the Mediterranean and West Indies from 1862 to 1865. He was promoted to lieutenant in 1866 and served in the RATTLER, on the China Station, until 1869. Following this he took courses in the Excellent and at the Royal Naval College, Portsmouth. He was appointed Gunnery Lieutenant of the MINOTAUR, Channel Squadron, in 1871. In 1873 he went in the Active to the West Coast of Africa, where he commanded the seamen landed with the force under Sir Garnet Wolseley (1833-1913). He was promoted to commander in 1874 and appointed to the Immortalite, Detached Squadron. From 1878 to 1881 he served in the Royal Yacht, VICTORIA and ALBERT, and was promoted to captain in 1881, but then had several years on half-pay. In 1884 he served on the Admiralty Torpedo Committee and in 1885 was appointed Captain of the ROVER, Training Squadron, until 1888. The following year he became Captain of the TEMERAIRE, on the Mediterranean Station. In 1891, on the same station, he commissioned the NILE, which ship was the next astern when the VICTORIA and CAMPERDOWN collided. He was appointed a junior Sea Lord in 1893 and was promoted to rear-admiral in 1896. In 1898 he was appointed second-in-command, Mediterranean, and was involved in settling the disturbances in Crete. Noel was made Superintendent of Naval Reserves and commanded the Home Fleet from 1900 to 1903. He was promoted to vice-admiral in 1901 and was Commander-in-Chief, China, 1904 to 1906, and at the Nore from 1907 to 1908. He was promoted to admiral in 1905 and Admiral of the Fleet in 1908, retiring in 1915.
The Navy Records Society was founded in 1893 for the purpose of making documents or unpublished works of naval interest available in print. Since that time it has issued over a hundred and twenty volumes connected with naval history and still continues to function.
The New Zealand Shipping Company Limited was incorporated in 1873 in Christchurch, New Zealand, by a group of local farmers and merchants, who were dissatisfied with the existing shipping facilities and their ability to cope with the country's rapidly expanding trade. It was at first administered from New Zealand, with a London 'Board of Advice' in the City. The company began by purchasing four second-hand iron sailing ships. Competition from the existing shipping companies, particularly Shaw Savill and the Albion Line was keen, and there was initially a brief rate war which led to an agreement ensuring uniform and viable rates of freight. Within four years of its inception the company was operating seventeen ships under its own flag as well as a large number of chartered vessels. In 1879 a joint charter, by Shaw Savill and the company, of a steamship demonstrated that, at the outset at least, a regular steamship service would have to be subsidized. Accepting this, the Colonial Government provided for a subsidy of £30,000 on its joint contract with Shaw Savill and Albion and the company in 1884: this contract ran for five years and was not renewed. Refrigeration was introduced and the second cargo of frozen meat from New Zealand was carried in 1882 in one of the company's sailing ships, the Mataura, fitted with Haslam's cold-air refrigerating machinery. In 1880 financial control of the company was transferred to London, and the business was reorganized. When in 1889 Edwyn Sandys Dawes (later Sir Edwyn, 1838-1903) acquired the controlling interest, it was the start of a connection between the company and the Dawes family which was to last until 1970. The company absorbed the Federal Steam Navigation Co in 1912 and the amalgamation secured for the company a firm foothold in the Australian trade. The Federal Steam Navigation Company Ltd was founded in 1892 after Allan Hughes (d 1928) had acquired the remaining assets of Money Wigram and Sons Ltd, owners of the Blackwall Line; the Federal Line ships flew the same house-flag and used the same English county names as Money Wigram's. Allan Hughes became chairman of the New Zealand Shipping Company in 1920.
In 1916 the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company acquired a controlling interest in the company. Both the New Zealand Shipping Company and the Federal Line, however, enjoyed considerable autonomy. Parallel to, but less important than the United Kingdom trade, was the affiliation of New Zealand Shipping and the Federal Line with other shipping companies, either as shareholders in a company or partners in a consortium. An early exampleof this was the New Zealand and African Steamship Company, 1902 to 1911, to take care of trade with South Africa. The Canadian connection, the Canadian-Australian Royal Mail Line, 1901 to 1910, was a joint venture between New Zealand Shipping and the Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand. A later development was the Montreal, Australia and New Zealand Line, 1941 to 1971, a partnership between New Zealand Shipping, Ellerman's and the Port Line. M.A.N.Z., as it was called, took in the East Coast United States, which trade was also served by the American and Australian Steamship Line, 1956 to 1971. In 1954 the Avenue Shipping Company Ltd was founded to augment the New Zealand and Federal fleets when needed; otherwise its ships were put into tramping. The Crusader Line (1957-1967) a joint service from New Zealand to the West Coast of the United States and to Japan, with Shaw Savill, Port Line, Blue Star and New Zealand Shipping as partners, was another Pacific venture. Finally the Dolphin Line (1967-1971) was a joint service of conventional ships to supplement the Overseas Containers Ltd operation; the partners were New Zealand Shipping Company, Scottish Shire and Clan Lines, Shaw Savill and Ocean Steam Navigation Company.
The Orient Steam Navigation Company was established in 1878 and jointly managed by the London shipowning firms of Anderson, Anderson and Company and F. Green and Company until 1919, when the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company acquired a controlling interest in its shareholding capital; at approximately the same time the dual management of the undertaking by the Anderson and Green companies came to an end and the two businesses were merged into a private limited company formed for the purpose, Anderson, Green and Company Limited. The Orient company was a small enterprise operating a handful of very large ships in virtually one trade, the mail and passenger service to Australia and New Zealand. In due course it provided a co-ordinated service in this region with ships of the P&O fleet; in later years, similarly in collaboration with P&O, a passenger service between North American ports and Australia and New Zealand was instituted, and in attempts to promote passenger traffic in the Pacific, a series of voyages between North America, the Far East and Australia were inaugurated. The company's ships were also extensively employed in ocean cruising. Anderson, Green and Company Limited, the managers, were brought under the P and O umbrella in 1949, but the P and O and Orient companies maintained separate identities and independent shore organizations until 1960 when the services were run together and the balance of the ordinary share-holdings of the Orient company was bought up by P and O. A new company, P and O/Orient Lines Passenger Services Limited, better known under its trading name, Orient and Pacific Lines, was set up to run the services of the two companies, an arrangement which ceased to exist in 1966. In the following years the former Orient company vessels gradually came into P and O ownership and their livery was likewise altered. See 'Steam to Australia', Syren and Shipping, July 1938; Stephen Rabson, 'Orient -- a mark of quality', Wavelength, June 1977.
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Parker was a nephew of Sir John Jervis (later Earl St. Vincent. He entered the Navy in 1793 as a captain's servant in the ORION and, as a midshipman, was present at the battle of the Glorious First of June 1794. He was then transferred with Captain (later Admiral) J.T. Duckworth to the LEVIATHAN and he went out to the West Indies in 1795. From 1796 to 1798 he was acting lieutenant of the MAGICIENNE and from 1798 to 1799 of the QUEEN, being promoted to lieutenant in 1799. He was appointed to command the VOLAGE and then the STORK, in which ship he returned home in 1800 and served for a year in the North Sea. He was promoted to captain in 1801 and during the following year commanded L'OISEAU, the HELDIN and the ALARM in home waters. Between 1802 and 1812 Parker was Captain of the AMAZON. He served in the Mediterranean under Nelson and sailed with him to the West Indies in 1805. From 1806 to 1810 he was employed mainly on the coasts of Spain and Portugal and from 1811 to 1812 in the Channel.
Parker was then on half-pay until 1827 when he was sent to the Mediterranean in the WARSPITE, being Senior Officer in the Aegean in 1828. On his return home he was appointed Captain of the Royal Yacht Prince Regent until his promotion to rear-admiral in 1830. He was second-in-command, Channel Squadron, in 1831 and commanded a squadron on the coast of Portugal during the Carlist War, 1831 to 1834. He was knighted in 1834 and was a Lord of the Admiralty between August and December of the same year. From 1835 he again had a seat at the Board of the Admiralty until 1841, when he was promoted to vice-admiral and appointed Commander-in-Chief, East Indies, where he brought the First Chinese War to a successful conclusion. In 1845 he was appointed Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean, a post he held until 1852 and which, from 1846 to 1847, was combined with a command in the Channel during the Portuguese Civil War. In 1851 he was promoted to admiral. He was Commander-in-Chief at Devonport from 1853 to 1857 and was promoted to Admiral of the Fleet in 1863. See Admiral Sir Augustus Phillimore, The life of Admiral of the Fleet Sir William Parker (3 vols, London, 1876-1880).
Peachey entered the Navy in 1914. He became a midshipman in the KING GEORGE V in 1915 and was present at Jutland. He joined the PRINCESS ROYAL in 1917 and in 1918 became acting Flag-Lieutenant to Vice-Admiral Sir John de Robeck (1862-1928). He became a lieutenant in 1918 and spent several years in China and the Mediterranean before becoming a lieutenant-commander in 1927. After serving in several ships he was promoted to commander in 1933 and then spent some time at the Admiralty. From 1936 to 1938 he was in the ROYAL OAK, Home Fleet, and on the staff of Rear-Admiral L.D.I. Mackinnon (1882-1948). In 1938 he was appointed Operations Officer, Coast of Scotland. He was promoted to captain in 1940 and commanded the DELHI, Mediterranean, from 1941 to 1944. From 1947 to 1948 he was Commodore, Palestine and Levant. He retired in 1950.
Whitshed, who until 1791 had the name Hawkins, entered the Navy in 1773 and was promoted to lieutenant in 1778. Becoming both commander and captain in 1780, he was appointed to the ROSE in home waters from 1784 to 1786. In 1799, having been promoted to rear-admiral, he was sent to join Earl St Vincent in the Mediterranean, serving subsequently in the Channel from 1800 to 1801. Whitshed became a vice-admiral in 1804, was Commander-in-Chief at Cork between 1807 and 1810, when he was promoted to admiral, and was later Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth, 1821 to 1824. He became Admiral of the Fleet in 1844.
Pellew entered the Navy in 1770. He became a lieutenant in 1778, a commander in 1780, a captain in 1782. In 1795 commanded a frigate squadron in the INDEFATIGABLE in the Channel. From 1802 to 1804 he was Member of Parliament for Barnstaple. Promoted to Rear-Admiral in 1804, he was appointed Commander-in-Chief, East Indies, with his flag in the CULLODEN and remained there for five years. In 1808 he became a Vice-Admiral and held the North Sea command from 1810 until 1811, when he was appointed to the Mediterranean with the CALEDONIA as his flagship. He was promoted to Admiral in 1814 and went again to the Mediterranean in 1815. In the next year he was ordered to suppress the Moorish pirates who operated from Tripoli, Tunis and Algiers. Pellew negociated teaties with Tunis and Tripoli but the Dey of Algiers refused to comply with Pellew's demands. Pellew then combined with a Dutch squadron at Gibraltar in August 1816 and together they bombarded Algiers, forcing the Dey to release prisoners and sgree to the treaty. His final command was at Devonport from 1817 to 1820. See Edward Osler, The life of Admiral Viscount Exmouth (2 vols, London, 1835, 1841) and C Northcote Parkinson Edward Pellew Viscount Exmouth Admiral of the Red (London, 1934).
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Palmer received his first commision on 20th May 1848 as acting assistant surgeon on HMS VICTORY. Later that year he served on HM Sloop DWARF from 19th September 1848 until late March 1850. His next commission was on 12th April 1850 as assistant surgeon on HMS ASIA in the Pacific under Captain Robert Fanshawe Stopford. He transferred on 17th February 1851 to the flagship in the Pacific, HMS PORTLAND, under Rear Admiral Fairfax Moresby. He later served on HMS JACKAL, under Lieutenant Commander William T. F. Jackson, from 3rd July 1854 until a brief term on HMS IMPREGNABLE under Vice Admiral Sir Barrington Reynolds in Devonport from 17th December 1858 until he transferred back to the JACKAL on 12th April 1859 under Lieutenant and Commander James Simpson at Sheerness. On 14th April 1860, he served on the flagship in the East Indies and China, HMS CHESAPEAKE, under Rear Admiral Sir James Hope. He produced many sketches on various subjects in China. On 16th May 1861, he spent two days on the new flagship, HMS IMPERIEUSE, before transferring to HMS PRINCESS CHARLOTTE, a receiving ship at Hong Kong under Captain Matthew S. Nolloth, where he was listed as surgeon (additional for service in Melville Hospital Ship). On 24th January 1866, he was commissioned as surgeon on HMS TOPAZE under Commodore 2nd Class Richard A. Powell. The TOPAZE voyaged to Easter Island among other destinations and it is here that he painted many watercolours and produced sketches of the topography of the island, the stone statues and some of the chiefs resident on the island at the time. His final commission was on HMS RESISTANCE from 11th September 1870 as staff surgeon under Captain William H. Haswell. This ship was on coast guard duty from Rockferry and Birkenhead from 1872 onwards. He is listed as retired in 1874.
The dockyard at Portsmouth was established in 1495. It was used throughout the reign of Henry VIII but was thereafter neglected until the Civil War when new buildings were erected and permanent officers appointed. The extension and improvement of yard facilities continued through the Dutch wars. Further periods of expansion followed between 1684 and 1690, 1694 and 1704 and 1716 and 1723. This expansion and the movement of the centre of naval operations into the Western approaches made Portsmouth the most important dockyard from the mid-eighteenth century. During the eighteenth century the area of the yard more than doubled in size; in the nineteenth century it trebled. The most notable additions were the Steam Basin, built between 1843 and 1848, and a further extension between 1863 and 1868 which added two locks, three docks and three basins. Expansion continued in the twentieth century. The dockyard remains operational today, and the Commander-in-Chief Naval Home Command is based there. See H. Kitson, 'The Early History of Portsmouth Dockyard, 1496-1800', parts 1-4, The Mariner's Mirror, 33 (1947), 256-65, 34 (1948), 3-11, 87-97, 271-9.
Porter became a surgeon in the Navy in 1877 and after service abroad joined the SCOUT, Mediterranean Station, from 1889 to 1892. He then served at Bermuda Dockyard. In 1896 he was Staff Surgeon in the BRITANNIA and in 1897 went to the DORIS, flagship at the Cape of Good Hope, and was promoted to Fleet Surgeon there in 1898. Between 1899 and 1900 Porter was Principal Medical Officer to the Naval Brigade in South Africa and afterwards received special promotion to the rank of Deputy Inspector-General of Hospitals and Fleets. In 1902 he was appointed to the Royal Naval Hospital, Chatham and to Gibraltar in 1905. In the next year he became Inspector-General. Between 1907 and 1908 he was Principal Medical Officer at Haslar. In 1908 he became Medical Director-General of the Navy until his retirement in 1913. During 1915 he was Principal Hospital Transport Officer for the Mediterranean Station, being much concerned with the Dardanelles campaign. He reverted to the retired list in 1917.