Hydrographer of the Navy

Hydrographer of the Navy
Hydrographer of the Navy
	Incumbent; Rear Admiral Angus Essenhigh; since 2023
	Ministry of Defence
Reports to	First Sea Lord
Nominator	Admiralty Board
Appointer	Secretary of State for Defence
Term length	1–4 years
Inaugural holder	Alexander Dalrymple
Formation	12 August 1795(227 years ago)

Last updated July 13, 2023

The Hydrographer of the Navy is the principal hydrographical Royal Naval appointment. From 1795 until 2001, the post was responsible for the production of charts for the Royal Navy, and around this post grew the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office (UKHO).

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—was produced by the Hydrographer.^[1]

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—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.^[1]

In 1939, on the outbreak of World War II, the Hydrographic Office moved to Taunton, 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.^[1] 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. As of 2010^[update], 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 0000

Notes

Related Research Articles

Hydrography is the branch of applied sciences which deals with the measurement and description of the physical features of oceans, seas, coastal areas, lakes and rivers, as well as with the prediction of their change over time, for the primary purpose of safety of navigation and in support of all other marine activities, including economic development, security and defense, scientific research, and environmental protection.

Sir Francis Beaufort was an Irish hydrographer, creator of the Beaufort cipher and the Beaufort scale, and naval officer.

The United Kingdom Hydrographic Office (UKHO) is the UK's agency for providing hydrographic and marine geospatial data to mariners and maritime organisations across the world. The UKHO is a trading fund of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and is located in Taunton, Somerset, with a workforce of approximately 900 staff.

Alexander Dalrymple FRS was a Scottish geographer and the first Hydrographer of the British Admiralty. He was the main proponent of the theory that there existed a vast undiscovered continent in the South Pacific, Terra Australis Incognita. He produced thousands of nautical charts, mapping a remarkable number of seas and oceans for the first time, and contributing significantly to the safety of shipping. His theories prompted a number of expeditions in search of this mythical land, until James Cook's second journey (1772–1775) led to the conclusion that, if it did exist, it was further south than the 65° line of latitude South.

Admiralty charts are nautical charts issued by the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office (UKHO) and subject to Crown Copyright. Over 3,500 Standard Nautical Charts (SNCs) and 14,000 Electronic Navigational Charts (ENCs) are available with the Admiralty portfolio offering the widest official coverage of international shipping routes and ports, in varying detail.

Rear-Admiral Sir David William Haslam was a Royal Navy officer.

Admiral Sir William James Lloyd Wharton was a British admiral and Hydrographer of the Navy.

Vice Admiral Sir Andrew David Hugh Mathews KCB FREng is a senior Royal Navy officer who was Chief of Materiél (Fleet), Royal Navy.

Rear-Admiral George Stephen Ritchie CB DSC was a British admiral noted for his cartographic and hydrographic work.

Sir Frederick John Owen Evans, was an officer of the Royal Navy. He became a distinguished hydrographer during his career and served as Hydrographer of the Navy.

John Washington was an officer of the Royal Navy, Hydrographer of the Navy, and a founding member of the Royal Geographical Society of London.

The Golden Jubilee Honours for the British Empire were announced on 21 June 1887 to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria on 20 June 1887.

Vice-Admiral Sir Henry Percy Douglas was a British naval officer who specialised in surveying and was Hydrographer of the Navy.

The 1902 Coronation Honours were announced on 26 June 1902, the date originally set for the coronation of King Edward VII. The coronation was postponed because the King had been taken ill two days before, but he ordered that the honours list should be published on that day anyway.

The 1869 Birthday Honours were appointments by Queen Victoria to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of the British Empire. The appointments were made to celebrate the official birthday of the Queen, and were published in The London Gazette on 2 June 4 June and 1 July 1869.

Admiral Sir Arthur Mostyn Field, was a senior officer in the Royal Navy who served as Hydrographer of the Navy from 1904 to 1909.

Vice-Admiral Sir John Augustine Edgell, KBE, CB, FRS was an officer in the Royal Navy and Hydrographer of the Navy from 1932 to 1945. He was noted for his support for innovations such as echo sounding and radio navigation, for the surveying and chart production operations of his department during World War II, and for his advocacy of the science of oceanography

Sir Herbert Edward Purey-Cust, KBE, CB was an officer in the Royal Navy and Hydrographer of the Navy from 1909 to 1914.

Sir Archibald Day was an officer in the Royal Navy and Hydrographer of the Navy from 1950-1955. He played an important part in planning the evacuation from Dunkirk in 1940, and wrote a history of the Hydrographic Service.

References

1 2 3 "The United Kingdom Hydrographic Office timeline" (PDF). UKHO. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-21. Retrieved 2011-01-23.

External links

Official website

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[UKHO_timeline-1] 1 2 3 "The United Kingdom Hydrographic Office timeline" (PDF). UKHO. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-07-21. Retrieved 2011-01-23.

[1]

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Authority control
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Hydrographer of the Navy

Incumbent Rear Admiral Angus Essenhigh since 2023
Ministry of Defence
Reports to	First Sea Lord
Nominator	Admiralty Board
Appointer	Secretary of State for Defence
Term length	1–4 years
Inaugural holder	Alexander Dalrymple
Formation	12 August 1795(227 years ago) (1795-08-12)