2171175Royal Naval Biography — Hurd, ThomasJohn Marshall


THOMAS HURD, Esq
Late Hydrographer to the Board of Admiralty; Superintendant of Chronometers; and a Commissioner for the Discovery of Longitude.
[Post-Captain of 1802.]

Previous to the first American war we find this officer assisting in a survey of Newfoundland, and afterwards completing his time as a Midshipman on board the flag-ships of the late Admiral Gambier and Earl Howe, by the latter of whom he was made a Lieutenant into the Unicorn frigate, commanded by Captain J. Ford, in 1777.

The Unicorn being coppered, was enabled to come up with and capture an unusually large number of American privateers and merchantmen, and Lieutenant Hurd, in consequence, realized a considerable sum, as had been predicted by the above nobleman, who, on presenting him with his commission, had advised him to purchase an iron chest to secure his prize-money in[1]. In May 1779, she formed part of the squadron under Sir James Wallace, at the capture of la Danae French frigate, and the destruction of several other national vessels in Concale bay, on the coast of France[2].

Mr. Hurd was appointed to the Hercules in 1781; and commanded her main-deck guns, as second Lieutenant, on the glorious 12th April in the following year[3]. He was subsequently removed, as first Lieutenant, into the Ardent, a 64-gun ship, recaptured from the French on that memorable occasion, and afterwards attached to the ill-fated convoy that sailed from Jamaica under Rear-Admiral Graves, and suffered so dreadfully in the hurricane of Sept. 17, 1782[4].

During the ensuing peace he was employed on various services; and it is to his scientific knowledge and sedulous exertions that we are indebted for our present knowledge of Murray’s anchorage, on the north side of the Bermudas. The geographical situation of those islands, as well as of the many banks and reefs, which on the north, east, and west sides, extend to the distance of three, four, and five leagues, was also first determined by him, and with the same fidelity as the channels leading to Castle Harbour and other places of anchorage. He afterwards commanded the Lily sloop of war; and in the summer of 1804, we find him engaged in a survey off Brest, the result of which was the production of an accurate chart denoting the soundings, and pointing out the exact position of the sunken rocks in the neighbourhood of that port. He succeeded Mr. Dalrymple as Hydrographer to the Admiralty in 1808, and died April 30, 1823.



  1. The experiment of covering ships’ bottoms with copper was first tried on the Alarm frigate in 1761; but the plan was not generally adopted tor many years afterwards.
  2. See Vol. I. p. 68.
  3. See id. p. 602.
  4. See Vol. I. p. 679.