Royal Naval Biography/Briggs, Thomas
THOMAS BRIGGS, Esq
Resident Commissioner of the Navy at Bermuda.
[Post-Captain of 1801.]
This officer is a son of Stephen Briggs, Esq., late chief Surgeon at Madras, by Magdalen, sister of the late Admiral Sir Thomas Pasley, Bart.[1] He was made a Commander into the Salamine brig on the Mediterranean station, about 1800; and obtained the rank of Post-Captain, July 24, 1801 . We subsequently find him commanding the Madras 54, bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Sir Richard Bickerton; Agincourt of 64 guns; and Orpheus frigate. The latter was wrecked on the Jamaica station, Jan. 23, 1807; previous to which she had captured two Spanish armed schooners.
Captain Briggs’ next appointment was, we believe, to the Clorinde, a 38-gun frigate; and in her he assisted at the capture of the Isle of France, in 1810. The following is an extract from the General Orders issued by the military commander-in-chief, on that important occasion[2]:
“The commander of the forces feels it his particular duty to offer his most sincere thanks to Captain Beaver, for the able and judicious manner in which he conducted the disembarkation, as well as for the indefatigable exertions he has since used in discharging the duty confided to him by the Vice-Admiral, in supplying the wants of the army; and Major-General Abercromby is equally indebted to Captains Briggs, Lye, and Street, and to the officers and seamen employed under their orders in the disembarkation of the troops.”
In 1814, Captain Briggs was appointed to the Leviathan 74; and from May, 1818, till Feb. 1821, he commanded the Queen Charlotte, a first rate, bearing the flag of Sir George Campbell, at Portsmouth.
Agents.– Messrs. Cooke, Halford, and Son.