Greenvile Collins (1643 – c. 25 March 1694) (also spelt Greenvill or Greenville) was an officer of the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
and prominent
hydrographer
Hydrography is the branch of applied sciences which deals with the measurement and description of the physical features of oceans, seas, coastal areas, lakes and rivers, as well as with the prediction of their change over time, for the primary p ...
, who compiled ''Great Britain's Coasting Pilot'', the first survey of the country's coast undertaken by a Briton.
Early career
Collins served as a
master
Master or masters may refer to:
Ranks or titles
* Ascended master, a term used in the Theosophical religious tradition to refer to spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans
*Grandmaster (chess), National Master ...
on ships, joining the ''Sweepstakes'' in this position for a voyage to the south seas with
Sir John Narborough
Rear-Admiral Sir John Narborough (or Narbrough, c. 1640–1688) was an English naval commander. He served with distinction in the Anglo-Dutch Wars and against the pirates of the Barbary Coast. He is also known for leading a poorly understood e ...
between 1669 and 1671.
The Admiralty appointed him as master of the
''Speedwell'' in 1676. John Wood commanded that ship, and intended to reach Japan by the then supposed North-East passage. Wood had served with Collins aboard the ''Sweepstake'' during Narborough's expedition, and held Collins in high regard.
The ''Speedwell'' was wrecked off
Novaya Zemlya
Novaya Zemlya (, also , ; rus, Но́вая Земля́, p=ˈnovəjə zʲɪmˈlʲa, ) is an archipelago in northern Russia. It is situated in the Arctic Ocean, in the extreme northeast of Europe, with Cape Flissingsky, on the northern island, ...
, but the crew was rescued and returned aboard their consort ship, ''Prosperous''. Collins's journal of the voyage brought him to the attention of
King Charles II. Collins continued his naval career, serving as master of on an expedition to
Tangier
Tangier ( ; ; ar, طنجة, Ṭanja) is a city in northwestern Morocco. It is on the Moroccan coast at the western entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar, where the Mediterranean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Spartel. The town is the cap ...
with Admiral Narborough in 1677. From the ''Charles Galley'' he transferred first to , then and in turn, serving as master aboard each. After good service, he was gazetted as
captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
, and appointed to command the 18-gun .
He again kept a journal, in which he recorded his encounters with the
Algerine and Ottoman pirates and their
destruction
Destruction may refer to:
Concepts
* Destruktion, a term from the philosophy of Martin Heidegger
* Destructive narcissism, a pathological form of narcissism
* Self-destructive behaviour, a widely used phrase that ''conceptualises'' certain kind ...
at the hand of the english ship, and drew maps which showed his hydrographic skill.
Surveying career
Collins then undertook another Mediterranean tour as master of the ''Leopard''; this voyage ran through the whole of 1680 and into the first few months of the year following.
Henry Fitzroy, Charles II's natural son and later Duke of Grafton, accompanied Collins during that voyage. Earlier, Collins had gained the king's attention with the quality of his Arctic journal keeping.
With this access, Collins began to lobby in 1680 for support for his proposals to undertake an improved survey of the country's coasts. Prior to this time nautical charts were often defective, and there was no centralised system for collecting and disseminating the better maps made by experienced seamen.
In the Spring of 1681, Collins gained the king's preferment to survey the country's coasts. For the survey, the Admiralty supplied Collins with the 8-gun yacht for the first two years and then the yacht until 1686.
His surveying was carried out under the supervision of
Trinity House
"Three In One"
, formation =
, founding_location = Deptford, London, England
, status = Royal Charter corporation and registered charity
, purpose = Maintenance of lighthouses, buoys and beacons
, he ...
, who also supported the project with financial contributions.
Samuel Pepys
Samuel Pepys (; 23 February 1633 – 26 May 1703) was an English diarist and naval administrator. He served as administrator of the Royal Navy and Member of Parliament and is most famous for the diary he kept for a decade. Pepys had no mariti ...
insisted that Collins be made a younger brother of Trinity House.
Collins eventually spent seven years on the survey, at first on the ''Merlin'' and ''Monmouth'', later aboard the ''Martin'' and ''Younge Spragge''.
As well as his own observations, he likely included existing charts and seamen's sketches and notes, and published charts as they were completed. Collins began gathering engraved copper plates with which to eventually print his charts with while he was engaged on the survey, and continued gathering more plates in the years following. In 1693, he finally published his results in a folio volume of two parts, ''Great Britain's Coasting Pilot'', containing sailing directions, tide tables, coastal views and about forty-nine charts. The charts were not completely accurate, but with all their shortcomings they were an enormous advance on anything before them, and entitle Collins to rank not only with the earliest, but with the best of English hydrographers. The work covered England and Scotland, and though Collins proposed a further study to cover Ireland, the plan came to nothing.
Collins recorded that he had spent £40 on instruments, and charged £80 for the 120 manuscript maps he delivered.
With his claim for expenses set at £200 per annum, and his wages of £394 10s., he claimed a total of £1914 10s. for his work, which was eventually paid in arrears.
The cost was more than three times the original estimate.
His cousin, Freeman Collins, printed the ''Coasting Pilot'', which Richard Mount sold. Mount's subsequent firm then went on to publish twenty-one further editions of the pilot throughout the nineteenth century. The Sudbrook Press published the book as a reduced facsimile in 1964, followed by Early English Books first in microfilm and then online.
Later life
His reputation as a hydrographer established, Collins was allowed to style himself hydrographer in ordinary to the king from 1683, and in 1693 he became one of the elder brethren of Trinity House.
In 1684 Collins surveyed encroachments onto the
River Thames
The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...
by riparian bank owners within the
City of London
The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...
. After the survey, Collins served as master of under Admiral
George Legge, 1st Baron Dartmouth
George Legge, 1st Baron Dartmouth PC (c. 1647 – 1691) was an English Royal Navy officer, who was appointed Admiral of the Fleet by James II in September 1688. However, he failed to intercept the invasion force under William III that landed ...
. Admiral Legge allowed
William of Orange to make a successful landing at
Torbay
Torbay is a borough and unitary authority in Devon, south west England. It is governed by Torbay Council and consists of of land, including the resort towns of Torquay, Paignton and Brixham, located on east-facing Tor Bay, part of Lyme ...
. Collins then served as commander of the yacht continuously until the end of 1693. Collins became master of the yacht
HMY ''Fubbs'' in 1694, and died while in command of her on or about 25 March 1694.
He had married Elinor Hocker in 1679 at
St Margaret's, Westminster
The Church of St Margaret, Westminster Abbey, is in the grounds of Westminster Abbey on Parliament Square, London, England. It is dedicated to Margaret of Antioch, and forms part of a single World Heritage Site with the Palace of Westminster a ...
; they had ten children together. His widow received £500 from the
Treasurer of the Navy
The Treasurer of the Navy, originally called Treasurer of Marine Causes or Paymaster of the Navy, was a civilian officer of the Royal Navy, one of the principal commissioners of the Navy Board responsible for naval finance from 1524 to 1832. T ...
in 1695.
Collins's publications bear various ways of spelling his first name, but Greenvile is the most dominant. However he mostly spelled out his own name as Greenvill.
Notes
References
*
*
*Frances E. Dyer, 'The journal of Grenvill Collins', ''Mariner's Mirror'', 14.3 (1928), 197–219.
*Coolie Verner, ''Captain Collins' Coasting Pilot'', The map collectors circle, (1969), p. 4-47 + plates.
*Stuart Mountfield, 'Captain Greenville Collins and Mr. Pepys', ''Mariner's Mirror'' 56.1 (1970), 85–95.
*
Ralph Hyde
Ralph Hyde (25 March 1939 – 5 June 2015) was a curator of graphic arts at the Guildhall Library in London, a pre-eminent historian and writer on the subject of Panoramic painting. On his retirement he lived for a time in France but return ...
, 'Seven manuscript Thames charts by Greenville Collins', ''Journal of Society of Archivists'' V (1974), 38–40.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Greenvile
1694 deaths
Royal Navy officers
British hydrographers
British cartographers
English hydrographers
Year of birth uncertain
1643 births
Members of Trinity House