George Pirie

Cdr. George Pirie in the 1890s.
Photo couresy of great-grandson, Ian Massey.

Captain (retired) George Pirie, R.N. (31 July, 1850 – 2 December, 1907) served in the Royal Navy.

Life & Career

George Pirie was born on 31 July 1850, to William Pirie (1818- 1886) and Flora Anne Sinclair (1820- 1852) in Tobermory, Isle of Mull, Scotland. He entered the training ship H.M.S. Britannia at 14 and a half years of age as one of nine second-class cadets admitted in March, 1865, being fifth of the nine in order of merit in the competitive entrance examination.

Pirie was appointed to the first-class ship Zealous from 18 July 1866 to 1 July 1867 as Master’s Assistant and from 2 July 1867 to 26 July 1868 as Navigating Midshipman.

On 26 July 1870, Pirie passed his Navigating Lieutenant examination and was awarded a First Class certificate on 27 October 1870. He served as pilot in Nimble on the Indian Station (including the Persian Gulf) from October 1870.

Pirie was navigating sub-lieutenant in the paddle-wheel surveying vessel Porcupine from 1874, surveying the east coast of England to June 1875. He was issued with a Master’s Certificate of Service (number 76,119) on the 27 July 1874.

George Pirie was the navigator on both Canadian Arctic expeditions of the gunboat turned steam yacht Pandora of 1875 and 1876. The first expedition was an attempt to reach the magnetic pole via Baffin Bay and Lancaster Sound, and to navigate the North-West Passage in one season. The second was a further attempt on the North-West Passage, but also to deliver dispatches to George Nares's Arctic expedition.

Pirie was promoted to the rank of Navigating Lieutenant and Lieutenant on 13 October, 1876 and went to the China Station serving first in the wooden screw gunvessel H.M.S. Nassau and then the Magpie.

Pirie returned home in 1879 and joined the sloop Flying Fish when she was commissioned in 1880 for surveys off China and Japan. Three years later, he was back in England but returned to the China Station in 1885 in the gunvessel Rambler where he remained for three years.

In May 1884, he was awarded the passing certificate of a Navigation Lieutenant for First Class Ships. He served in the screw sloop Revenge and then in Duke of Wellington as a Navigating Midshipman for two tours 1884 to 1887 and then 1888.

Pirie married Ada Beck on 3 September, 1888 and was appointed to Egeria and then was appointed in command of the flat-iron gunboat Paluma from 5 January, 1889.

Pirie was responsible for the Hydrographic Survey of Cape Grenville to Cape York on the Great Barrier Reef coast. It is possible that Sinclair Island in the middle of the reef is so named due to George’s mother’s maiden name, which he would give as a middle name to each of his three daughters.

He was promoted to the rank of Commander on 30 June, 1892 and was re-appointed in command of Paluma in lieu of a Lt. in command, also being in charge of survey work she was undertaking. In early 1893, as she was lying immobile in Brisbane while her boilers were refurbished, a great flood swept in and deposited her high and dry near the Botanical Gardens. Luckily, a second flood ten days later placed her back in navigable waters with her boilers back in place.

This was a propitious time to leave the ship, and Pirie was superseded on 4 March 1893 and arrived back in England on 15 July, 1893.

Pirie was appointed as Naval Assistant to the Hydrographer Sir W. J. Wharton. He served with rank of Commander in H.M.S. President and in Triton (January 1894) on the East Coast of England, conducting the annual surveys of the Duke of Edinburgh Channel and one of the Goodwins in 1896.

He was placed on the Retired List at his own request with the rank of Captain on 31 March, 1898. On 2 January, 1899 he was permitted to accept a three year appointment in Practical Nautical Surveying with the Chilean government.

On 1 January, 1906 he was appointed Conservator of the Humber River, which was a Board of Trade appointment under David Lloyd George, M.P. under the Humber Conservancy Act of 1905. This position was intended to last for a period of three years, but Pirie passed away on 2 December 1907 from intestinal hepatitis.

See Also

• Service Records

Bibliography

Naval Appointments
Preceded by George E. Richards	Captain of H.M.S. Triton 1 Jul, 1894 – 22 Mar, 1898	Succeeded by James W. Combe