The mathematician, Charles Babbage, took note of the problems with shipping and produced ‘Notes Respecting Lighthouses‘ in 1852. This proposed an elegant system for coding lighthouses and anticipated the use of lighted buoys by more than twenty years. He was, of course, ignored by the British authorities, although the Russians1See p220 Good words, ed. by …
Anthony Deane, friend of Pepys, built ships at Harwich and help repel the Dutch. He wrote his Doctrine of Shipbuilding and was key to building the Royal Navy. He is commemorated only by the Red Buoy at Harwich.
Edward Fitzgerald (1809-1883) was from a wealthy family and a gentleman of leisure. Known primarily for his translation of a Persian poem he was of a bohemian disposition and lived an unconventional life. He was one of the ‘Woodbridge Wits’, a group of poets and artists, which included Thomas Churchyard, George Crabbe and Bernard Barton. …
Greenvile Collins produced the first British survey of our coasts in Great Britain’s Coasting Pilot, previously the Dutch had been pre-eminent in this field. Collins won the support of King Charles I to produce his survey of England and Scotland, it took seven years. He was not a local hydrographer but did make the local …
In 1810 Thomas succeeded Spence and commissioned the survey brig HMS Investigator in 1810 which he was to command for twenty-six years. He then had HMS Mastiff for ten years and died aboard. For some of that time his son, who was to become a Commander, was his assistant. His surveys mainly covered the North …
Thicknesse was quite a character, he was Governor of Landguard Fort and built a cottage at Cobbold’s Point. There are many interesting connections: shipwrecks, Lord Orwell/Vernon dispute, Dr Dodd, and many more. More to do on him! Philip Thicknesse, Landguard’s Loosest Cannon | English Heritage (english-heritage.org.uk) Philip Thicknesse – Wikipedia Volume 1 – Thicknesse, Philip. …
Read more “Memoirs and Anecdotes of Philip Thicknesse: Late Lieutenant Governor of Land Guard Fort…”
Guy Anson Maunsell (1884 – 1961) was the Civil Engineer who designed the Navy and Army Towers.
Surveyor – Explorer – Deben Survey – Franklin – Erebus & Terror – Australia – Rattlesnake and propellers.
Off Harwich is a starboard hand buoy named for Captain John Washington. Some sailors know that he was an important figure in the history of the Haven. Washington was a sailor, explorer, cartographer, hydrographer, linguist, humanitarian, scientist, spy and engineer. His work on the port was a tiny part of what he achieved.
Peter Bruff, aka the East Anglian Brunel, was the Civil Engineer who built the Breakwater at Landguard Point …
Samuel Pepys, known for Samuel Pepys Diary is covered fully elsewhere. Of local interest is that he was M.P. for Harwich and …
Surveyor, Nelson & Medusa Channel, Station Pointer, Double Sextant, Charts.
1801 Nelson in HMS Medusa with Capt. Gore is guided by Spence to scrape out to sea.
Edward Vernon served on Admiral Sir Cloudsesley Shovell’s flagship at the capture of Gibraltar. He was later captain of the ship that avoided disaster in the catastrophic loss of Cloudesley Shovell’s fleet on the Isles of Scilly in 1707. The Rum Ration He is known for his 1740 order that rum should be diluted with …
Broke Hall – Broke family – Sea Fencibles – HMS Shannon – USS Chesapeake – Wickham Mill – Carronade – Gunnery
TBA