Samuel Long
Rear-Admiral Samuel Long, Royal Navy (5 January, 1840 – 25 April, 1893) was an officer of the Royal Navy.
Early Life & Career
Samuel Long was born on 5 January, 1840, the first child of the Reverend Charles Maitland Long, Rector of Whitchurch, Salop, and Anna Maria, youngest child of Sir Robert Fitz-Wygram, Bart.
During the Crimean War Long served in the Agamemnon and Royal Albert, and was present at the bombardment of Sevastopol on 17 October, 1854. He received the Crimean Medal with Sebastopol clasp.
Long was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant on 5 January, 1859.[1]
Long was promoted to the rank of Commander on 3 April, 1868.[2]
Captain
Long was promoted to the rank of Captain on 12 December, 1876.[3] On 3 April, 1878, he was appointed to Vernon for a Torpedo Course.
On 9 March, 1881, he was appointed to Iron Duke for command of Curacoa in the Detached Squadron. He paid Curacoa off on 27 March, 1883, and on 28 March was appointed to Thalia for the passage home, thence to half pay. On 21 April, 1884, he was appointed to Vernon for the half pay torpedo course, and on 13 June to Excellent for the half pay gunnery course.[4]
He was appointed to Royal Adelaide on 2 September for command of the turret ship Agamemnon, which he commissioned on 16 September for service on the China Station. A newly-promoted Lieutenant in the Agamemnon, Ernest C. T. Troubridge, recalled that Long was "a great stickler for dress, & we wore frock coats & sword belts on watch even through the Red Sea." He claimed that Agamemnon was excluded from the Sudanese campaign because the Senior Officer at Suakin "didn't want his nose put out of joint by Captain Long."[5]
On 28 May, 1886, he was appointed to command Vernon, torpedo training ship at Portsmouth. On 15 June he was appointed Chairman of the Torpedo Discharge Committee.[6] During the Naval Review celebrating Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee in 1887 Long was lent to Glatton for command of the Destroyer Flotilla. A portion of his responsibilities for this involved a flotilla cruise and exercises which The Times described as "somewhat disasterous". By the time the flotilla limped into Portsmouth behind the torpedo gunboat Rattlesnake in late May, fully eleven of the twenty-four boats had been crippled "by the weather and intrinsic defects, without the assistance of shot and shell to which they would be exposed in action." Two boats had suffered major boiler accidents (fatally so in on case), two others had collided, one had lost a propeller blade, and six had had temporary failures in the engine rooms.[7]
He was superseded in Vernon on 1 January, 1889. On 7 January he was appointed to Nankin as Captain Superintendent of Pembroke Dockyard.[8]
Flag Rank
Long was promoted to the rank of Rear-Admiral on 27 August, 1891, vice Chatfield.[9] He served as an Umpire during the Manœuvres of 1892.[10]
On 22 March, 1893, Long gave a very thoughtful paper to the Institution of Naval Architects, "On the Present Position of Cruisers in Naval Warfare,"[11] on "the work such vessels [cruisers] are likely to be called upon to perform in case of war."[12] On 25 April he was out riding on the Petersfield Road near his home when he was thrown from his horse and received fatal head injuries. He died at his house, Blendworth Lodge, Horndean, on 26 April.
Long's estate was probated on 21 June, 1893, at £79,992 10s 9d,[13] a very large amount of money for the time.
Bibliography
- "Obituary" (Obituaries). The Times. Wednesday, 26 April, 1893. Issue 33935, col D, p. 5.
Service Records
- The National Archives. ADM 196/36.
- The National Archives. ADM 196/14.
| Naval Appointments | ||
| Preceded by ? |
Captain of H.M.S. Fantome 5 Dec, 1873[14] – 12 Dec, 1876 |
Succeeded by Thomas M. Maquay |
| Preceded by ? |
Captain of H.M.S. Curacoa 2 May, 1881[15][16] – 27 Mar, 1883[17] |
Succeeded by John G. J. Hanmer |
| Preceded by ? |
Captain of H.M.S. Agamemnon 2 Sep, 1884[18][19] – 22 Mar, 1886[20] |
Succeeded by Alfred T. Dale |
| Preceded by Albert H. Markham |
Captain of H.M.S. Vernon 28 May, 1886[21] – 1 Jan, 1889[22] |
Succeeded by Arthur K. Wilson |
| Preceded by ? |
Captain of H.M.S. Fearless 7 Jul, 1887[23] – 22 Aug, 1887[24] |
Succeeded by Charles W. Dickinson |
| Preceded by George D. Morant |
Captain Superintendent, Pembroke Dockyard 7 Jan, 1889[25][26] – 1891[27] |
Succeeded by Walter Stewart |
Footnotes
- ↑ Long Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/36/2058. f. 816.
- ↑ The London Gazette: no. 23368. p. 2106. 7 April, 1868.
- ↑ The London Gazette: no. 24394. p. 6947. 15 December, 1876.
- ↑ ADM 196/36. f. 816.
- ↑ "Recollection in Ranks." Troubridge Papers. National Maritime Museum. TRO/300/6.
- ↑ Long Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/36/2058. f. 816.
- ↑ "Naval & Military Intelligence." The Times (London, England), 26 May 1887, p. 7.
- ↑ ADM 196/36. f. 816.
- ↑ The London Gazette: no. 26199. p. 4775. 8 September, 1891.
- ↑ ADM 196/36. f. 816.
- ↑ Transactions of the Institution of Naval Architects. XXXIV. pp. 1-18.
- ↑ Transactions of the Institution of Naval Architects. XXXIV. p. 1.
- ↑ ADM 196/14. f. 846.
- ↑ The Navy List. (January, 1876). p. 145.
- ↑ The Navy List. (December, 1881). p. 203.
- ↑ Long Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/36/2058. f. 816.
- ↑ Long Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/36/2058. f. 816.
- ↑ Long Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/36/2058. f. 816.
- ↑ The Navy List. (September, 1885). p. 191.
- ↑ Long Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/36/2058. f. 816.
- ↑ The Navy List. (February, 1888). p. 253.
- ↑ Long Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/36/2058. f. 816.
- ↑ "Naval & Military Intelligence." The Times (London, England), 1 July, 1887, p. 13.
- ↑ Long Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/36/2058. f. 816.
- ↑ Long Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/36/2058. f. 816.
- ↑ The Navy List. (April, 1891). p. 355.
- ↑ Long Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/36/2058. f. 816.
