Gerald William Vivian

Captain Gerald William Vivian, C.M.G., Royal Navy (11 June, 1869 – 14 August, 1921) was an officer in the Royal Navy.

Life & Career

Vivian was born on 11 June, 1869, the second son of Sir Arthur Pendarves Vivian and Lady Augusta Emily. On 21 September, 1886 Vivian was appointed Midshipman in the steel corvette Canada. He was confirmed in the rank of Sub-Lieutenant on 28 November, 1890. Subsequently he was appointed to the battleship Dreadnought on 24 November.

Promoted to Lieutenant he was reappointed to Dreadnought on 2 April, 1892. On 18 April, 1893 Vivian was appointed to the Wanderer. On 31 October he was then appointed to the battleship Alexandra. On 16 January, 1894 he was appointed to the training ship Minotaur. Vivian was on 22 February, 1895 appointed to the cruiser Crescent. He was then given command of the torpedo boat destroyer Decoy in the Devonport Flotilla.

On 21 March, 1902 he was appointed First Lieutenant of the cruiser Amphitrite. On 3 April he was transferred to the battleship Vengeance as First Lieutenant. On 30 June, 1904 Vivian was promoted to the rank of Commander and subsequently reappointed to Vengeance. On 10 July, 1906 he was appointed executive officer of the Irresistible.

North America

From 1 April, 1910 he was then given his first independent command, that of the steel screw sloop Shearwater on the West Coast of America Station, where the only British presence would be marked by his ship and the sloop Algerine upon 6,000 miles of coast-line. Based at the former British Naval Dockyard at Esquimalt, he was called upon to make calls at multiple ports and show the flag. At the same time as he was appointed to command, unrest in the Central American state of Mexico began to grow in the run-up to democratic elections which would end the rule of President Porfirio Díaz. Candidate Fransisco Madero began an open revolt against the government of Díaz. In Baja California, the coastal area of Western Mexico where Shearwater coaled when cruising, there were numerous British holdings which could be threatened by rebels and not protected by the Federal Mexican troops. On 8 April, 1911 Shearwater anchored off the small settlement of San Quintín to take aboard freshwater. Three days later, Vivian received a written request for protection from a representative of a British company and an American storekeeper, as an attack by a large rebel force was believed to be imminent.

On 30 June, 1912, Vivian was promoted to the rank of Captain, but he continued to cruise the American west coast in his lower rank, until relieved of command. On 25 April, 1913, he given command of the cruiser Hermes which was serving as sea-going tender to the Naval Wing of the Royal Flying Corps. His executive officer was Francis Rowland Scarlett. He then decided to take up flying, and qualified as a pilot on 31 March at the Central Flying School. He commissioned the Hermes at Chatham on 8 May, which was then worked up and prepared to be the headquarters of the naval air service as well as what was in effect the world's first aircraft carrier (fitted to carry seaplanes), until it was decided that Sheerness would serve as the headquarters of the service. Vivian was ordered to pay Hermes off on 23 December, 1913 and give the crew Christmas leave. The following day he was appointed in command of the protected cruiser Sirius, which he commissioned at Chatham on 27 January, 1914.

Great War

Vivian was appointed in command of the first class protected cruiser Europa on 1 August, 1914, which command he held until 28 October, when he was appointed to Victory for command of the Patia, which he commissioned in December.

On 28 August, 1915, he was appointed to Victory, and on 14 September, 1915, he assumed command of the light cruiser Liverpool.

He was appointed in command of the armoured cruiser Roxburgh in September 1917. In the King's Birthday Honours he was appointed a Companion in the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George (C.M.G.) on 3 June, 1918.

Post-War

Vivian left Roxburgh when he was appointed in command of St. Vincent on 31 January, 1919. He was appointed in command of Collingwood on 18 March, 1919. He moved on to command of Glorious on 21 May, where he remained until appointed to Pembroke as Commodore of the Royal Naval Barracks, Chatham on 11 August, 1920.

Interested in cricket (he was a member of the M.C.C.), shooting and fishing, Vivian died suddenly, of a hemorrhage, at the age of fifty-two at Bosahan, Cornwall, on 14 August, 1921.

Bibliography

• Taylor, Lawrence D. (April 1996). "Gunboat Diplomacy's Last Fling in the New World: The Seizure of San Quintín, April 1911". The Americas 52 (4): pp. 521–543.

Papers

• Papers in the possession of the National Maritime Museum.

Service Records

• The National Archives. ADM 196/89.
• The National Archives. ADM 196/43.

Naval Appointments
Preceded by Arthur H. Shirley	Captain of H.M.S. Decoy 2 Dec, 1897 – 9 Jan, 1899	Succeeded by George V. W. Carey
Preceded by Charles W. G. Crawford	Captain of H.M.S. Shearwater 1 Apr, 1910 – 24 Apr, 1912	Succeeded by Frederic H. Walter
Preceded by Herbert J. Savill	Captain of H.M.S. Hermes 25 Apr, 1913 – 23 Dec, 1913	Succeeded by Charles L. Lambe
Preceded by Crawford Maclachlan	Captain of H.M.S. Sirius 24 Dec, 1913 – 22 May, 1914	Succeeded by William H. Boys
Preceded by Robert W. Johnson	Captain of H.M.S. Europa 1 Aug, 1914 – 28 Oct, 1914	Succeeded by Hugh G-C. Somerville
Preceded by New Command	Captain of H.M.S. Patia 30 Nov, 1914 – 27 Aug, 1915	Succeeded by Richard F. H. Hartland-Mahon
Preceded by Edward Reeves	Captain of H.M.S. Liverpool 14 Sep, 1915 – Sep, 1917	Succeeded by George N. Tomlin
Preceded by Henry P. V. Hickman	Captain of H.M.S. Roxburgh 1 Sep, 1917 – 31 Jan, 1919	Succeeded by Robert L. Jermain
Preceded by John E. T. Harper	Captain of H.M.S. St. Vincent 31 Jan, 1919 – 18 Mar, 1919	Succeeded by Frederick A. Powlett
Preceded by Frederick A. Powlett	Captain of H.M.S. Collingwood 18 Mar, 1919 – 21 May, 1920	Succeeded by Percy Pitts
Preceded by Percy Pitts	Captain of H.M.S. Glorious 21 May, 1920 – 11 Aug, 1920	Succeeded by Argentine H. Alington
Preceded by Harry L. d'E. Skipwith	Commodore-in-Command, Royal Naval Barracks, Chatham 11 Aug, 1920 – 7 Jun, 1921	Succeeded by Louis C. S. Woollcombe