Henry Peake

Sir Henry Peake (1753–1825) was a shipbuilder and designer to the Royal Navy who rose to be Surveyor of the Navy.

Life

Peake was born in 1753 in (or close to) Portsmouth. He joined the Royal Navy in May 1762 aged only 9, as an apprentice ship's carpenter. There is "Henry Peake" who was noted as Master Boat Builder at Portsmouth Dockyard in 1762, who is likely his father. The Royal Navy list his works from 1779 when he became Master Shipwright at Sheerness Dockyard.

In June 1806, Peake replaced Sir John Henslow as Surveyor of the Navy, working alongside Sir William Rule. Hos position as Surveyor of the Navy was filled by Ropert Seppings in 1813 but he did not officially retire until 1822.

Peake was knighted by George IV on 25 June 1814. Peake died in 1825.

Family

He was married to Sarah Ladd. They had several sons who became eminent Royal Navy officers:

Ships built

Ships designed

Note: dates in brackets represent date of design not launch)

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Sir Henry Peake (1753-1825)". threedecks.org.
  2. ↑ A Naval Biographical Dictionary: Thomas Ladd Peake
  3. ↑ Burke's Peerage: Henry Peake
  4. ↑ Dictionary of Naval Biography: Henry Peake
  5. ↑ Betts, Matthew (2022). HMS Terror: The Design Fitting and Voyages of a Polar Discovery Ship. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1526783134.
  6. ↑ Palin, Michael (2019). Erebus: The story of a ship (1st ed.). Hutchinson London. ISBN 978-1784758578.