Admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...

Frederick Bullock (1788 – 6 February 1874) was a Royal Navy officer noted for his work as a

surveyor Surveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, art, and science of determining the terrestrial two-dimensional or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them. A land surveying professional is ca ...

, particularly in the Thames Estuary. Bullock entered the Navy on 28 November 1804, serving in under Captains

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and Rodd in the English Channel. From 1808 he was with in the Mediterranean. He was promoted to Lieutenant on 22 January 1812. Bullock's first command was HMS ''Snap'', from 1823, surveying the coast of

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

, determining the precise positions of the many headlands that had been well charted by

James Cook James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean an ...

, but without the aid of chronometers. He then commanded from 1827 to 1828, surveying in the River Thames. He was promoted to commander in 1829, and served on the yacht ''William and Mary'', on HMS ''Boxer'', and HMS ''Fearless''. He became a Fellow of the

Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

in 1830. As commander of ''Fearless'', Bullock was part of the squadron that accompanied Queen Victoria to and from Woolwich on her 1842 visit to Scotland. Bullock is best-remembered for his surveying of the River Thames and its estuary. A letter from Bullock to

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Hydrographer of the Navy The Hydrographer of the Navy is the principal hydrographical Royal Naval appointment. From 1795 until 2001, the post was responsible for the production of charts for the Royal Navy, and around this post grew the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office ...

in 1828 proposing a detailed survey was rebuffed, but when

Francis Beaufort Rear-Admiral Sir Francis Beaufort (; 27 May 1774 – 17 December 1857) was an Irish hydrographer, rear admiral of the Royal Navy, and creator of the Beaufort cipher and the Beaufort scale. Early life Francis Beaufort was descended f ...

became Hydrographer in 1829 he was much more supportive. Bullock would be engaged on this work until 1847. He started in London, and worked his way down river, using

triangulation In trigonometry and geometry, triangulation is the process of determining the location of a point by forming triangles to the point from known points. Applications In surveying Specifically in surveying, triangulation involves only angle me ...

which connected with the earlier work of the Ordnance Survey. As he moved into the outer estuary, which had been surveyed by Graeme Spence and George Thomas, it became clear that there had been many changes in the shoals and channels, and a new survey of this area was authorised. To obtain accurate positions of shoals and banks out of sight of land, he set up a network of semi-permanent beacons as well as anchored vessels for triangulation, a development of the method earlier used by Thomas. The changes in the banks and channels of the outer estuary noted by Bullock have continued. In 1839 Bullock surveyed a channel which was named the Bullock Channel. Tizard (1890) reviewed a number of surveys of this channel, including Bullock's and his own. By 1882 it had become wider and deeper, and was buoyed and renamed the Duke of Edinburgh Channel after Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and of Edinburgh, Master of Trinity House. Since that time a shoal has developed that has divided the channel into two, now known as the Edinburgh Channels. Bullock made a number of technical innovations. On the basis of the temporary beacons he had used in surveying, he designed a more permanent safety beacon which was set up on the dangerous Goodwin Sands, off the Kent coast. In December 1842, during a royal visit to Walmer Castle, Bullmer took

Prince Albert Prince Albert most commonly refers to: *Albert, Prince Consort (1819–1861), consort of Queen Victoria *Albert II, Prince of Monaco (born 1958), present head of state of Monaco Prince Albert may also refer to: Royalty * Albert I of Belgium ...

in ''Fearless'' to visit the beacon. The beacon survived four stormy winters before being demolished by a "careless dutchman" whose ship ran over it at high tide. Bullock was the inventor of an improved form of protractor, and patented a ship's log, for recording a vessel's speed Bullock retired in 1853, along with several other surveyors, as a result of budget cuts. He was promoted to admiral on the retired list, and died on 6 February 1874.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bullock, Frederick Royal Navy admirals British cartographers Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society 1788 births 1874 deaths