Come and ask, answer or inform.
Posted by Albert Parker on Friday 18th of June 2021 03:49
The Wikipedia article on Surveyor of the Navy Sir William Symonds says that he entered the navy in 1794, was promoted to lieutenant on October 14, 1801, and continued in active service for the remainder of the Napoleonic Wars without further promotion. This is especially odd since he was the son of a navy captain (Thomas Symonds, 1731-1792, so he was dead by the time William entered the navy). He had active peacetime service as "captain of the port" at Malta, 1819-25. He seems only to have become involved in naval architecture from about 1821. The Wikipedia article does not do a very good job of explaining why he was appointed surveyor in 1832; perhaps there is something in the _Dictionary of National Biography_ or the _Oxford Dictionary of National Biography_.
Posted by Philip Stevens on Tuesday 30th of March 2021 21:35
Is this Sir William Symonds (1782 - ? 1856) who was Surveypr of the Navy from 1832 to 1847 ? In 1801, he might have been on Endymion, Belleisle or Royal Sovereign.