Page 33 - Ranger Demo

'Willing assistance constantly rendered': joint service field survey in
Sicily, 1814-1816
Captain M. K. Barritt, Royal Navy served as Hydrographer of the Navy in
2001-02. He published Eyes of the Admiralty (London, 2008) in which he
described war-time hydrographic activity off the French and Spanish coasts
in 1799-1800. An account of the emergence of the Royal Naval Surveying
Service during and immediately after the wars of 1793-1815 is in preparation
for publication. He is a contributor to the nineteenth-century volume of The History of Cartography (in press, University of Chicago).
The important paper by P. K. Clark and Yolande Jones (Hodson), republished in RANGER, in 2019, describes how the Peninsular War stimulated front-line survey work by officers of the Royal Engineers and Royal Staff Corps. The lack of charts and the need for reconnaissance surveys promoted similar activity in the fleet. Hydrographic effort during the operations to defend Cadiz would bring to the Hydrographer's attention a man whose cooperation with military counterparts is the subject of this article.
Introduction
Throughout the later years of the Napoleonic Wars, Captain Thomas Hurd, second Hydrographer to the Board of Admiralty, identified skilled hydrographic practitioners in the fleet and urged that their services be retained in a specialist cadre. With the coming of peace, he renewed his advocacy, proposing the formation of 'a distinct and separate corps something similar to that of the Engineers of the Army'.1 He had grown up in Plymouth, the base of a division of the Board of Ordnance, and the home town of several distinguished surveyors, including William Mudge. Hurd served in North America and employed on field survey with the engineers under Major Samuel Holland. His standing with military contemporaries contributed to his selection for a great survey of the archipelago of Bermuda, which sealed his reputation. As Hydrographer he showed great respect for the work of army surveyors, including their work in the catalogues of British Admiralty charts.
The Hydrographer and a new recruit
In November 1812 a young master's mate called on the Hydrographer. His name was William Henry Smyth. The interview revealed that hydrographic observations which he had rendered during service in eastern seas had arrived in the Hydrographical Office without attribution. Now he brought with him surveys made during operations on the coasts of Spain. Hurd was particularly impressed by a survey of the environs of Cadiz where Smyth had commanded a gunboat in the inshore squadron and earned notice for gathering intelligence on the positions of the French army besieging the city. Hurd lost no time in passing it to the First Lord, Viscount Melville, adding his estimation of Smyth's 'many useful surveys' to the testimonials from the young man's commanding officers.2 In March 1813 Smyth received his appointment as lieutenant to serve in the Anglo-Sicilian flotilla stationed at Messina.3 Hurd now asked that Smyth be furnished with the necessary instruments to survey the coast of the island. The Board of Admiralty issued the necessary orders and directed the Senior Officer on station 'to employ him as may be convenient in the survey.'4
Smyth had called to consult the Hydrographer on 'the state of the Mediterranean charts' and to offer 'every exertion' to improve them whenever his duties allowed. Hurd was unlikely to turn Smyth away, especially as he learnt that he had provided himself with 'some superior instruments'. Smyth's 'working tools' included a chronometer, astronomical instruments and barometers. At least one instrument had been made by Troughton, the most renowned maker of the day, to meet Smyth's
1 The National Archives, Admiralty Papers (henceforth TNA ADM) 12/179, Heading 57, 12 Oct. 1816
2 United Kingdom Hydrographic Office Outgoing Letter Book (henceforth UKHO LB)1, letter dated 5 Feb. 1820 3 TNA ADM 1/3140, Lt S 132, minute dated 18 Mar. 1813
4 TNA ADM 12/161 Heading 57, 8 Nov. 1813
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