Surveyor of the Navy

The office was established in 1546 under Henry VIII when the post holder was styled as Surveyor and Rigger of the Navy until 1611. Until 1745 the actual design work for warships built at each Royal Dockyard was primarily the responsibility of the individual Master Shipwright at that Royal Dockyard. For vessels built by commercial contract (limited to wartime periods, when the Royal Dockyards could not cope with the volume of work), the Surveyor's office drew the designs to which the private shipbuilders were required to build the vessels. From 1745 design responsibility was centred in the Surveyor's office, with the Master Shipwrights in the Dockyard responsible for implementation. In 1832 the Navy Board was abolished and all of its functions were brought under the sole control of the Board of Admiralty. Before 1832, the building, fitting out and repairing of HM ships were the responsibility of the Navy Board. Originally the principal officer most involved was the Surveyor of the Navy, who estimated annual stores requirements, inspected ships' stores and kept the Fleet's store-books and repair-bills. In the eighteenth century his duties passed increasingly to the Comptroller of the Navy. The office of Surveyor did not disappear, however, and after 1832, when the office of Comptroller was abolished, the Surveyor was made the officer responsible for the material departments. In 1860 the name of the office was changed to Controller of the Navy until 1869, when the office was amalgamated with the office of the Third Naval Lord. ==Office holders==

Surveyor and Riggers of the Navy (1546–1611) In date order (note that the post of Surveyor was frequently shared, which enabled the Admiralty to have competitive designs prepared for evaluation): :Surveyors and Riggers of the Navy • Vice-Admiral, Sir Thomas Spert, 1524–1541 • Admiral Sir William Wynter 8 July 1549. • Thomas Slade and John Williams (jointly) 28 June 1765. • John Williams (alone) 22 February 1771. • John Henslow (alone) 7 December 1786. • Joseph Tucker and Robert Seppings (jointly) 14 June 1813. (Seppings became Sir Robert Seppings from 20 February 1822. • Sir Robert Seppings (alone) 1 March 1831. • Sir William Symonds, 9 June 1832-October 1847 • Sir Baldwin Wake Walker 5 February 1848 – 1859. Controllers of the Navy (1859-1869) In 1859 the post of Surveyor of the Navy was changed to Controller of the Navy • Rear-Admiral Sir Baldwin Wake Walker, 1859–1861 • Vice-Admiral Sir Robert Robinson, 1861–1869 In 1869 the post of Controller of the Navy was merged with the office of the Third Naval Lord ==References==

This article contains text from this source http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C712, which is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0. © Crown copyright.