After an education at
Truro Grammar School Spry joined the
Royal Navy as a volunteer in 1733. Following the sinking of his ship by the Spanish Navy he was taken prisoner in 1745 but released two months later. In 1755 he became senior officer at
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Spry returned to England in 1769. in 1771. Spry was knighted at Portsmouth on 24 June 1773 and retired to Place House in
St Anthony in Roseland,
Cornwall. He died there in 1775. ==References==