Vice-Admiral of England The Vice-Admiral of the United Kingdom is an honorary office generally held by a senior Royal Navy admiral. The title holder is the official deputy to the Lord High Admiral, an honorary (although once operational) office which was vested in t ...

Sir Thomas Spert (spelled in some records as Pert) (died December 1541) was a mariner who reached the rank of vice admiral in service to King Henry VIII of England. He was sailing master of the flagships ''

Mary Rose The ''Mary Rose'' (launched 1511) is a carrack-type warship of the English Tudor navy of King Henry VIII. She served for 33 years in several wars against France, Scotland, and Brittany. After being substantially rebuilt in 1536, she saw her ...

'' and '' Henry Grace a Dieu''. He served as the first Master 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 ...

, the private corporation for maritime affairs in London. Spert Island off the coast of

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest cont ...

is named for him. AnthonyRoll-1 Great Harry

Early life and career

Thomas Pert (as his name was at times recorded) or Spert was born in England. He entered the service of Henry VII as a mariner, carrying dispatches between England and Spain. Spert served, evidently with credit, in the navy of Henry VIII during the

Anglo-French War The Anglo-French Wars were a series of conflicts between England (and after 1707, Britain) and France, including: Middle Ages High Middle Ages * Anglo-French War (1109–1113) – first conflict between the Capetian Dynasty and the House of Norma ...

of 1512–1514. From 1512 to 1515, he was master of the ''

,'' one of the most important warships in the Crown's fleet. On 10 November 1514, Spert was granted an annuity of £20, which was confirmed in January 1516. He next was assigned as master to the '' Henry Grace a Dieu'', the largest vessel constructed up to then in England. On 10 July 1517, Spert was granted the office of ballasting ships in the

Thames River The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

, which office he was to hold 'during pleasure' at a fee of £10 a year. Historian James A. Williamson in his work of 1913 thought this fact aided an argument against Richard Eden's statement that Spert's misconduct had spoiled the success of the 1516-1517 voyage of discovery undertaken with Sebastian Cabot. Williamson said that the ballasting office apparently provided opportunity for profit, and would not have been granted to a man who had recently disgraced himself. A document in the Public Record Office is found in a manuscript book showing the issues of various stores to the masters of the king's ships. Entries detail Spert's presence on the ''Henry Grace a Dieu'' on 7 April and 5 July 1516, and on 28 April and 17 September 1517. Together with the grant made to him on 10 July 1517, Williamson argued that these appear to be conclusive evidence that Spert was not traveling with Sebastian Cabot in a voyage of discovery in 1516–1517 to the southern coast of North America.James A. Williamson, ''Maritime Enterprise 1485-1558'', Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913, pp. 241–245 What is known of the remainder of Spert's career shows that he continued in high favour with the king. He served in the war of 1522-5 and was consulted by the admiral as to the best way of cutting out some Scottish privateers in Boulogne harbour. His knighthood has been disputed by historians, but Williamson notes two official documents that refer to him as Sir Thomas Spert (Letters and Papers, vi, No. 196 ; xvii, No. 1258).Williamson (1913), ''Maritime Enterprise'', p. 244 Spert made his will 28 November 1541, naming his wife Mary (Fabian) as executrix, and died at

Stepney Stepney is a district in the East End of London in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The district is no longer officially defined, and is usually used to refer to a relatively small area. However, for much of its history the place name appli ...

in December. According to Baldwin, his monument at St Dunstan and All Saints, Stepney, is in error in stating that he died on 8 September 1541. He left his pasturage in Blackwall to his widow until his son Richard reached the age of majority. He also made bequests to his daughter and to his cousin Margaret Spert, who was married to 'the famous Guinea seaman,

John Lok John Lok was the son of Sir William Lok, the great-great-great-grandfather of the philosopher John Locke (1632–1704). In 1554 he was captain of a slave trading voyage to Guinea. An account of his voyage was published in 1572 by Richard Eden. ...

Marriages and issue

Spert married a woman named Margery, whose surname is unknown. He married as his second wife Anne Salkell, but appears to have had no children by either marriage. He married thirdly Mary Fabian, the daughter of John Fabian (nephew of the chronicler,

Robert Fabyan Robert Fabyan (died 1512) was a London draper, Sheriff and Alderman, and author of ''Fabyan's Chronicle''. Family Robert Fabyan was the son of John Fabyan and his wife, Agnes. He is said to have been born in London. He had a brother, John. His n ...

) and Anne Waldegrave. They had two children. Their son Richard Spert married Grissell Salkell of King's Wood,

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

. Their daughter Anne Spert married firstly Thomas Brook, and secondly John Skott.

Legacy and honors

Spert Island off the coast of

is named for him.

Notes

References

*
Sir Thomas Spert - People and places
Port Cities
James A. Williamson, ''Maritime Enterprise 1485-1558''
Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1913, full text online at Internet Archive, via University of Toronto {{DEFAULTSORT:Spert, Thomas 1541 deaths 16th-century Royal Navy personnel Sailors from London English admirals Members of Trinity House Year of birth unknown