Richard Spratly
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Captain Richard Spratly (1802–1870) was a British sea captain and contributor to navigational records, after whom the
Spratly Islands The Spratly Islands ( fil, Kapuluan ng Kalayaan; zh, c=南沙群島/南沙群岛, s=, t=, p=Nánshā Qúndǎo; Malay, id, Kepulauan Spratly; vi, Quần đảo Trường Sa) are a disputed archipelago in the South China Sea. Composed ...
in the
South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by the shores of South China (hence the name), in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan and northwestern Phi ...
are named.


Early life

Richard Spratly was born on 22 January 1802 in the parish of All Saints, Poplar, East London. His father, Thomas, is described on his birth certificate as a boatbuilder. His mother was Ann née Myers. He was the second of four children (Mary Ann born 25 December 1799), Jane (born 15 December 1812) and William (born 18 March 1815).


Early voyages

1818, 6 June – Spratly first sails as an apprentice on ''Earl of Marley'' (possibly ''Earl Morley'', a
whaler A whaler or whaling ship is a specialized vessel, designed or adapted for whaling: the catching or processing of whales. Terminology The term ''whaler'' is mostly historic. A handful of nations continue with industrial whaling, and one, Japa ...
)
1824, June – Spratly sails as 2nd officer on ''Marquis of Huntley'', a convict ship
1832, 1 September –
Convict ship A convict ship was any ship engaged on a voyage to carry convicted felons under sentence of penal transportation from their place of conviction to their place of exile. Description A convict ship, as used to convey convicts to the British coloni ...
''York'', with Richard Spratly as captain, sails from Plymouth with 200 convicts on board.
1832, 29 December – Convict ship ''York'', with Richard Spratly as captain, arrives
Van Diemen's Land Van Diemen's Land was the colonial name of the island of Tasmania used by the British during the European exploration of Australia in the 19th century. A British settlement was established in Van Diemen's Land in 1803 before it became a sep ...
(Tasmania)
1833, 20 October – , under Captain Hingston, arrives Gravesend from the Southern Ocean. Owners were Jarvis and Co.
1834, 5 July – Richard Spratly replaces Hingston as master of ''Cyrus''
1837, 25 October – ''Cyrus'' arrives at Portsmouth from South Seas
1838, (unknown) – ''Cyrus'' surveyed by Lloyds
1838, June – ''Cyrus'' departs on a whaling voyage In 1844, Richard Spratly was sailing past
Manado Manado () is the capital city of the Indonesian province of North Sulawesi. It is the second largest city in Sulawesi after Makassar, with the 2020 Census giving a population of 451,916 distributed over a land area of 162.53 km2.Badan Pusa ...
, on Sulawesi.RootsWeb:_Mariners-L_[Mar]_Sydney_Shipping_Gazette_–_Murder_of_Hon._Erskine_Murray
_Archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com_(14_February_2003)._Retrieved_2009-02-03.-->
_He_became_the_witness_to_an_attack_by_a_local_sultan_on_ RootsWeb:_Mariners-L_[Mar]_Sydney_Shipping_Gazette_–_Murder_of_Hon._Erskine_Murray
_Archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com_(14_February_2003)._Retrieved_2009-02-03.-->_He_became_the_witness_to_an_attack_by_a_local_sultan_on_James_Erskine_Murray">Erskine_Murray's_yacht_''Young_Queen'',_captained_by_Captain_Hait,_and_the_brig_''Anne'',_captained_by_Captain_Lewis._The_account_was_documented_in_a_letter_titled_'Honorable_E._Murray'_and_published_in_the_''Sydney_Shipping_Gazette''.


_Kema_incident

According_to_accounts_by_the_crew,_on_24_February_1844,_''Cyrus''_anchored_at_
RootsWeb:_Mariners-L_[Mar]_Sydney_Shipping_Gazette_–_Murder_of_Hon._Erskine_Murray
_Archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com_(14_February_2003)._Retrieved_2009-02-03.-->_He_became_the_witness_to_an_attack_by_a_local_sultan_on_James_Erskine_Murray">Erskine_Murray's_yacht_''Young_Queen'',_captained_by_Captain_Hait,_and_the_brig_''Anne'',_captained_by_Captain_Lewis._The_account_was_documented_in_a_letter_titled_'Honorable_E._Murray'_and_published_in_the_''Sydney_Shipping_Gazette''.


_Kema_incident

According_to_accounts_by_the_crew,_on_24_February_1844,_''Cyrus''_anchored_at_Kema_Dstrict">Kema_Roads,_Sulawesi.html" "title="Kema_Dstrict.html" ;"title="James_Erskine_Murray.html" ;"title="ar] Sydney Shipping Gazette – Murder of Hon. Erskine Murray">RootsWeb: Mariners-L [Mar] Sydney Shipping Gazette – Murder of Hon. Erskine Murray
Archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com (14 February 2003). Retrieved 2009-02-03.--> He became the witness to an attack by a local sultan on James Erskine Murray">Erskine Murray's yacht ''Young Queen'', captained by Captain Hait, and the brig ''Anne'', captained by Captain Lewis. The account was documented in a letter titled 'Honorable E. Murray' and published in the ''Sydney Shipping Gazette''.


Kema incident

According to accounts by the crew, on 24 February 1844, ''Cyrus'' anchored at Kema Dstrict">Kema Roads, Sulawesi">Celebes Sulawesi (), also known as Celebes (), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the world's eleventh-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Mindanao and the Sul ...
, with a valuable cargo of whale oil. The next day the crew went ashore, but returned a few men short. Two men, Heron and Robson, were spotted and told to return but fled after they were confronted only to return later on the 28th. Crew members Howland and Heron went missing on 2 March. Finally on 3 March, after much searching and drunken antics by her crew on the Dutch occupied island, ''Cyrus'' sailed away to return to England, but without the missing crew members. Upon returning to Great Britain in August 1844, the crew was summoned to a hearing by William Heron's mother. The incident had not been well documented and there was not enough evidence to suggest one way or the other if Captain Spratly was guilty of abandoning them without a thorough search, therefore no jury trial followed. The account given by the newspapers was starkly different from the crew's accounts recorded by the courts and gave more details of the course of events.


Crew

Circa. 1838–1844 * Captain Richard Spratly, Master * Chief Officer George Cotton * Second Officer William Spratly * Francis Rankin, Surgeon * William Heron (cooper's mate), William Heron, Cooper's Mate (abandoned in Keimes,
Celebes Sulawesi (), also known as Celebes (), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the world's eleventh-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Mindanao and the Sul ...
1841) * Mr Howland (abandoned in Keimes,
Celebes Sulawesi (), also known as Celebes (), is an island in Indonesia. One of the four Greater Sunda Islands, and the world's eleventh-largest island, it is situated east of Borneo, west of the Maluku Islands, and south of Mindanao and the Sul ...
1841) * Mr Robson * Mr Brown * George Lansdell


Contributions to navigational knowledge

Captain Spratly occasionally submitted navigational routes and survey information to ''
The Nautical Magazine ''The Nautical Magazine'' was a monthly magazine containing articles of general interest to seafarers. The magazine was first published in 1832 by Simpkin, Marshall, and Co. (London) as ''The Nautical Magazine: A Journal of Papers on Subjects C ...
'' and the ''Naval Chronicles''. On 29 March 1843, Spratly sighted what is now known in English as
Spratly Island Spratly Island, also known as Storm Island ( vi, Đảo Trường Sa Lớn; ; ), is the fourth largest of the naturally occurring Spratly Islands in the South China Sea with an area of , and the largest of the Vietnamese-administered Spratly isl ...
and
Ladd Reef Ladd Reef ( vi, Đá Lát; Mandarin ) is a Vietnam-controlled reef in the Spratly group of islands, South China Sea. China (PRC) and Taiwan (ROC) are also claimants of the reef. Like Spratly Island, Ladd Reef lies to the west of the Philippi ...
.''MARITIME BRIEFING'', Volume I, Number 6: A Geographical Description of the Spratly Island and an Account of Hydrographic Surveys Amongst Those Islands, 1995 by David Hancox and Victor Prescott. Pages 14–15 Richard Spratly was the name reported by Captain Doyle of Australia and Captain Campbell of the
Hydrographic Office A hydrographic office is an organization which is devoted to acquiring and publishing hydrographic information. Historically, the main tasks of hydrographic offices were the conduction of hydrographic surveys and the publication of nautical cha ...
His sighting was reported in ''
The Nautical Magazine ''The Nautical Magazine'' was a monthly magazine containing articles of general interest to seafarers. The magazine was first published in 1832 by Simpkin, Marshall, and Co. (London) as ''The Nautical Magazine: A Journal of Papers on Subjects C ...
'' in the year 1843, issue 697:. The publication of his voyage in the Nautical Magazine and The Naval Chronicle popularized his naming of the island, even though the island had previously been named "Horsburgh's Storm Island" by Captain James Horsburgh. The British Admiralty finally agreed that the scattered islands in the area be named the
Spratly Islands The Spratly Islands ( fil, Kapuluan ng Kalayaan; zh, c=南沙群島/南沙群岛, s=, t=, p=Nánshā Qúndǎo; Malay, id, Kepulauan Spratly; vi, Quần đảo Trường Sa) are a disputed archipelago in the South China Sea. Composed ...
.


Later voyages

1845, 22 May – ''Cyrus'' departs from The Downs ff Doverbr /> 1845, 18 Sept – ''Cyrus'' under Spratly in Batavia, from London, for South Seas
1848, 1 June – ''Cyrus'', under Spratly, returns to England from the South Seas
1848, 8 June – Spratly stops being Master of ''Cyrus''
1849, March – Spratly becomes Master of ''Margaret''
1849, 1 April – ''Margaret'', under Spratley, departs bound for the South Seas
1851, 11 April – Spratly letter in ''The Nautical Magazine'' (p. 490: "Eastern Navigation from the Margaret")
1852, unknown – ''Margaret, Spratly, master, bound for the South Sea (Lloyds Register)
1852, 6 March – Spratly stops being master of ''Margaret''
1853, 29 June – Richard Spratly makes claim for Master's certificate of service
1853, July – Richard Spratly granted Master's certificate in London
1858, 24 March – ''Atalanta'', Capt. Spratly, belonging to Messrs. Wilson and Cooke, London, was despatched by Mr. J.B. Wilcocks, from Plymouth, on Wednesday, 24 March, with 396 Government emigrants for Melbourne, comprising 26 married couples, 98 single men, 163 single women, and 83 children, of whom 147 were English and 249 Irish; under the medical care of Mr. J.S. Ireland.
1858 7 June ''Atalanta'' arrives at
Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
,
Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...
and Sydney in 1859.
1860 5 March ''Atalanta'' (960 tons) departs England(?) carrying 345 emigrants (28 men, 297 women, 20 children)
1860 30 May ''Atalanta'' arrives Victoria, Australia after voyage of 86 days
1861 Richd Spratly noted in Census. Married, age 59. Master, not living on board. Vessel ''Atalanta''. Number 5 Jetty North Side East India Docks There is an entry for a Captain Richard Spratly as master of ''Redrose'' in 1864. It's not clear if this is the same Richard Spratly.


Final days

Richard Spratly died, "at the residence of his nephew, Ealing, Middlesex, aged 69.". The address on death certificate is Oxton Villa, Ealing. The cause of death was pleuropneumonia. The informant was Richard's youngest child, Matilda M. Spratly, resident of Rock Ferry, Birkenhead.Entry of Death, General Register Office. Registered 30 April 1870


Family life

He married Jane Miller at St George in the East, Cannon Street Road, London in 1828. He had four children: Jane Miller Spratly, born in Stepney, 24 February 1839; Richard Jolly Spratly, born in Stepney 21 June 1842; Thomas Miller Spratly, baptised in Whitechapel St Mary, 26 November 1845 and Matilda, born in Ramsgate 9 July 1849. In the 1861 UK National Census Rich Spratly is recorded as Master of the vessel Atalanta. Number 5 Jetty North Side East India Docks but not living on board. The family are recorded as: Richard (Master Mariner, 59) & Jane (born Whitechapel, 52) Spratly living together 22 Robinsons Road, Hackney (district 6) with Richard (son, 18 born Stepney), Thomas (son, 15 born Ramsgate) and Jane (daughter, 22 born Stepney). Matilda Spratly (daughter, 11, born Ramsgate, staying with friends)


References


External links


Google Books: A Geographical Description of the Spratly Island and an Account of Hydrographic Surveys Amongst Those Islands
{{DEFAULTSORT:Spratly, Richard People from Poplar, London British people in whaling British surveyors 1802 births 1870 deaths Spratly Islands 19th-century British people