Admiral of the Narrow Seas explained

Post:Office of the Admiral of the Narrow Seas
Insignia:File:Flag of England.svg
Insigniasize:150px
Insigniacaption:Flag of the Kingdom of England
Reports To:Lord High Admiral, Board of Admiralty
Nominator:Monarch of England, First Lord of the Admiralty
Appointer:Monarch of England
Appointer Qualified:Subject to formal approval by the King-in-Council
Termlength:Not fixed (usually for life)
Inaugural:Vice-Admiral Sir John Pendagrast
Formation:1412-1688

The Admiral of the Narrow Seas also known as the Admiral for the guard of the Narrow Seas [1] was a senior Royal Navy appointment. The post holder was chiefly responsible for the command of the English navy's Narrow Seas Squadron [2] also known as the Eastern Squadron [3] that operated in the two seas which lay between England and Kingdom of France (the English Channel particularly the Straits of Dover) and England and the Spanish Netherlands later the Dutch Republic (the southern North Sea) from 1412 to 1688.[4] His subordinate units, establishments, and staff were sometimes informally known as the Command of the Narrow Seas.[5]

History

The first royal commission as Admiral to a naval officer was granted in 1303. By 1344 it was only used as a rank at sea for a captain in charge of a fleet or fleets.[6]

In the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the Kingdom of England claimed sovereignty over certain bodies of water close to the British Isles: those between the Kingdom of France and England (the English Channel particularly the Straits of Dover) and the Spanish Netherlands later the Dutch Republic and England (the southern North Sea). As a result of England's claim of these territorial waters there was an enforceable requirement placed on any foreign ships passing through the area to acknowledge all English warships. England also exercised control over all fishing rights within the same waters.

Among the most important naval postings during these times was the Admiral of the Narrow Seas, sometimes called the Vice-Admiral of the Narrow Seas to denote that he was junior to the Lord Admiral of England. These flag officers were formally appointed by the crown.[7] His responsibilities were to guard the narrow seas from foreign threats, protect English fishing vessels and enforce English sovereignty over said waters.

Claims to the narrow seas lasted until the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, along with other European countries, agreed to set a new three-mile limit in 1822.[8]

Office holders

Admiral/General at Sea/Vice-Admiral/Rear-Admiral Narrow Seas
width=20rank !width=250name !width=220date/s!width=320notes!width=30 ref
Vice-Admiral Sir John Pendagrast 1412 Commanding the Narrow Seas [9]
office is presumed vacant (1413 – 1522)
Vice-Admiral 1523 – 1524 also vice-admiral channel squadron/fleet [10]
Vice-Admiral Sir John Dudley1537[11]
Vice-AdmiralJune 1543 [12]
Vice-Admiral Sir William Woodhouse1544 – 1545 [13]
Vice-AdmiralMay. 1549 [14]
Vice-Admiral26 March, 1552 [15]
Admiral William DriverDecember, 1552 – January, 1553 [16]
Vice-Admiral 1557 – 1558[17]
Vice-Admiral September, – October, 1558 [18]
Vice-Admiral Sir John MalynNovember, 1558 – January, 1559 [19]
Admiral February, 1563 – April, 1563 lost with his ship off Rye [20]
Vice-Admiral May – July, 1563 [21]
Vice-Admiral August, 1562 – October, 1563 [22]
Vice-Admiral Sir Thomas CottonAugust, – September, 1563 [23]
Rear-Admiral 1587 [24]
Vice-Admiral 1588 [25]
Vice-Admiral September, 1589 – 1590 [26]
Admiral 1590 – 1591[27]
Admiral 1598 – 1601 [28]
Rear-Admiral Sir Robert Mansell c. 1599 [29]
Vice-Admiral 1602 – 1604 [30] [31]
Vice-Admiral August, 1604 – 1613[32]
Vice-Admiral Sir Francis Howard1613 – 13 January, 1616
Admiral 14 January, 1616 – 1618
Admiral Sir Henry Mervyn 1619 – 1623
Rear-Admiral 1623 – 1626as Rear-Admiral for the Guard of the Narrow Seas [33]
Rear-AdmiralSir John Penington1631 – 1634 as Rear-Admiral for the Guard of the Narrow Seas [34]
Vice-AdmiralRobert Bertie, 3rd Earl of Lindsey1635 – 1639[35]
Vice-Admiral 1641 – 1642 [36]
Admiral 1643 [37]
Vice-Admiral Sir Thomas Rainsborough1643 – 1644 [38]
General-at-Sea1652 – 1657[39]
Vice-Admiral 1665 [40]
Vice-Admiral July 1657 – 1658 [41]
AdmiralSir Edward Montagu 1st Earl Sandwich June 1661 – 1665[42]
Vice-AdmiralSir John Kempthorne1678[43]
Vice-AdmiralSir William Poole 1679
Vice-Admiral 1685 – 1687[44]
AdmiralSir Roger Strickland1687 – 1688[45]

See also

References

Citations

Sources

Notes and References

  1. Book: Keeler . Mary Frear . Cole . Maija Jansson . Bidwell . William B. . Commons Debates 1628 . 1997 . Boydell & Brewer . 9781580460095 . 210 . en.
  2. Book: Winfield . Rif . British Warships in the Age of Sail 1603-1714: Design, Construction, Careers and Fates . 2010 . Seaforth Publishing . Barnsley, England . 9781783469246 . 285 . https://books.google.com/books?id=95WCAwAAQBAJ&q=Lord+Henry+Seymour+Narrow+Seas+Squadron&pg=PT336 . en . Appendices: Appendix 1: English Naval vessels engaged in the action against the Armada 1588.
  3. Book: Childs . David . Pirate Nation: Elizabeth I and her Royal Sea Rovers . 2014 . Seaforth Publishing . Barnsley, England . 9781848322943 . 141 . en.
  4. Blanchard . W. O. . The Narrow Seas . Journal of Geography . September 1951 . 50 . 6 . 221–230 . 10.1080/00221345108982679 . 0022-1341.
  5. Book: Humble . Richard . The rise and fall of the British Navy . 1986 . Macdonald Queen Anne Press . London . 9780356122274 . 35 . 1. publ. . Four Centuries of Sea Power 1509 to 1919.
  6. Web site: History of Naval Ranks and Rates . www.navymuseum.co.nz . National Museum of the Royal New Zealand Navy . 13 February 2019 . 10 November 2015.
  7. Book: Rodger . N.A.M. . The safeguard of the sea : a naval history of Britain. Vol 1., 660-1649 . 1997 . Penguin . London, England . 9780140297249 . 298 . Social History of Officers 1509-1603.
  8. Web site: Narrow Seas - Oxford Reference - in The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea . oxfordreference.com . University of Oxford . 7 June 2018 . en .
  9. Book: Campbell . John . Lives of the British Admirals: Containing Also a New and Accurate Naval History, from the Earliest Periods . 1812 . C. J. Barrinton . London, England . 245 . en.
  10. Book: Harding . Edward . Naval Biography, Or, The History and Lives of Distinguished Characters in the British Navy, from the Earliest Period of History to the Present Time . 1805 . John Scott . London, England . 185 . en.
  11. David. Loades. Dudley, John, duke of Northumberland. 2021.
  12. Book: Knighton . Dr C. S. . Loades . Professor David . The Navy of Edward VI and Mary I . 2013 . Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. . 9781409482406 . 538 . en.
  13. Glasgow . Tom . Vice Admiral Woodhouse and Shipkeeping in the Tudor Navy . The Mariner's Mirror . January 1977 . 63 . 3 . 253–263 . 10.1080/00253359.1977.10659032 . 14 October 2018.
  14. Book: Knighton . Dr C. S. . Loades . Professor David . The Navy of Edward VI and Mary I . 2013 . Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. . Farnham, England . 9781409482406 . 538 . en.
  15. Book: Loades . D. M. . Loades . Professor of History David . John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, 1504-1553 . 1996 . Clarendon Press . Oxford, England . 9780198201939 . 58 . en.
  16. Book: Knighton . C.S. . Loades . David . The Navy of Edward VI and Mary I . 2011 . Ashgate for the Navy Records Society . Farnham, Surrey . 9781409418474 . 539.
  17. Glasgow . Tom . Maturing of Naval Administration 1556–1564 . The Mariner's Mirror . January 1970 . 56 . 1 . 11 . 10.1080/00253359.1970.10658511.
  18. Web site: CHAMBERLAIN, Sir Ralph (by 1523-70 or later), of Shirburn, Oxon. History of Parliament Online . www.historyofparliamentonline.org . The History of Parliament Trust 1964-2017.
  19. Book: Knighton . Dr C. S. . Loades . Professor David . The Navy of Edward VI and Mary I . 2013 . Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. . 9781409482406 . 558 . en.
  20. Book: Knighton . Dr C. S. . Loades . Professor David . The Navy of Edward VI and Mary I . 2013 . Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. . 9781409482406 . 558 . en.
  21. Book: Knighton . Dr C. S. . Loades . Professor David . The Navy of Edward VI and Mary I . 2013 . Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. . 9781409482406 . 552 . en.
  22. Book: Knighton . Dr C. S. . Loades . Professor David . The Navy of Edward VI and Mary I . 2013 . Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. . 9781409482406 . 552 . en.
  23. Book: Knighton . Dr C. S. . Loades . Professor David . The Navy of Edward VI and Mary I . 2013 . Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. . 9781409482406 . 538 . en.
  24. Book: Childs . David . Pirate Nation: Elizabeth I and her Royal Sea Rovers . 2014 . Seaforth Publishing . Barnsley, England . 9781848322943 . 141 . en.
  25. Book: Nichols . John . John Nichols's The Progresses and Public Processions of Queen Elizabeth: Volume III: 1579 to 1595 . 2013 . OUP Oxford . Oxford, England . 9780199551408 . 419 . en.
  26. Book: Knighton . C.S. . Loades . David . The Navy of Edward VI and Mary I . 2011 . Ashgate for the Navy Records Society . Farnham, Surrey . 9781409418474 . 544.
  27. Warde, Luke . 59 . Laughton . John Knox . John Knox Laughton . 350 . 1.
  28. Web site: LEVESON, Sir Richard (1570-1605), of Lilleshall Lodge, Salop; Trentham and Parton, Staffs. and Bethnal Green, Mdx. History of Parliament Online . www.historyofparliamentonline.org . The History of Parliament Trust 1964-2017 . 6 June 2018.
  29. Web site: MANSELL, Sir Robert (c.1569-1656), of Pentney and Norwich, Norf. and Penrice, Glam. History of Parliament Online . historyofparliamentonline.org . Institute of Historical Research, University of London: The History of Parliament Trust 1964-2017 . 25 June 2018.
  30. Book: Keeler . Mary Frear . Cole . Maija Jansson . Bidwell . William B. . Commons Debates 1628 . 1997 . Boydell & Brewer . 9781580460095 . 210 . en.
  31. Book: Stewart . William . Admirals of the World: A Biographical Dictionary, 1500 to the Present . 2009 . McFarland . 9780786438099 . 210 . en.
  32. Book: British Naval Biography: Comprising the Lives of the Most Distinguished Admirals, from Howard to Codrington, with an Outline of the Naval History of England, from the Earliest Period to the Present Time . 1840 . Scott, Webster, and Geary . London, England . 64 . https://books.google.com/books?id=rZAxAQAAMAAJ&q=Command+of+the+Narrow+Seas&pg=PA64 . en . 3: from the accession of James 1 to the death of Queen Anne.
  33. Book: Keeler . Mary Frear . Cole . Maija Jansson . Bidwell . William B. . Commons Debates 1628 . 1997 . Boydell & Brewer . 9781580460095 . 210 . en.
  34. Book: Fulton . Thomas Wemyss . The Sovereignty of the Sea: An Historical Account of the Claims of England to the Dominion of the British Seas, and of the Evolution of the Territorial Waters, with Special Reference to the Rights of Fishing and the Naval Salute . 2002 . The Lawbook Exchange . Clark, NJ . 9781584772323 . 261 . 1911. en.
  35. Book: Bruce . John . Hamilton . William Douglas . Lomas . Mrs Sophia Crawford . Calendar of State Papers, Domestic Series, of the Reign of Charles I ...: 1635 . 1865 . Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, & Roberts . 54–55 . en.
  36. Laughton . J. K. . John Knox Laughton . Penington, John . 44.
  37. Book: Bowle . John . Charles I: a biography . 1975 . Weidenfeld & Nicolson . London . 223 . en.
  38. Book: Jones . Whitney Richard David . Thomas Rainborowe (c. 1610-1648): Civil War Seaman, Siegemaster and Radical . 2005 . Boydell Press . Woodbridge, England . 9781843831211 . 17 . en.
  39. Book: Rogers . Hugh Cuthbert Basset . Generals-at-sea: Naval Operations During the English Civil War and the Three Anglo-Dutch Wars . 1992 . Galago . Alberton, South Africa . 9780946995844 . 2 . en.
  40. Book: Baumber . Michael . General-at-sea : Robert Blake and the seventeenth-century revolution in naval warfare . 1989 . J. Murray . London . 9780719547065 . 155 . 1. publ..
  41. Book: Charnock . John . Biographia navalis; or, Impartial memoirs of the lives ... of officers of the navy of Great Britain from ... 1660 . 1794 . R. Faulder . London, England . 31 . Biographia navalis Volume 1. . en.
  42. Book: Charnock . John . Biographia navalis; or, Impartial memoirs of the lives ... of officers of the navy of Great Britain from ... 1660 . 1794 . R. Faulder . London, England . 33 . Biographia navalis Volume 1. . en.
  43. J. D.. Davies. Kempthorne, Sir John. 2008.
  44. Web site: Bays . John . Royal Bastards and Mistresses: The Shadow Courts of Restoration England . Eastern Illinois University . 27 February 2019 . Charleston, Illinois, United States . 17 . 2015.
  45. Book: Luke . John . Tangier at High Tide: The Journal of John Luke, 1670-1673 . 1958 . Librairie Droz . 9782600034678 . 239 . en.

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