Richard Spratly
Captain Richard Spratly was a British sea captain and contributor to navigational records, after whom the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea are named.
Early life
Richard Spratly was born on 22 January 1802 in the parish of All Saints, Poplar, East London. His father, Thomas, is described on his birth certificate as a boatbuilder. His mother was Ann née Myers. He was the second of four children, Jane and William.Early voyages
1818, 6 June – Spratly first sails as an apprentice on Earl of Marley1824, June – Spratly sails as 2nd officer on Marquis of Huntley, a convict ship
1832, 1 September – Convict ship York, with Richard Spratly as captain, sails from Plymouth with 200 convicts on board.
1832, 29 December – Convict ship York, with Richard Spratly as captain, arrives Van Diemen's Land
1833, 20 October –, under Captain Hingston, arrives Gravesend from the Southern Ocean. Owners were Jarvis and Co.
1834, 5 July – Richard Spratly replaces Hingston as master of Cyrus
1837, 25 October – Cyrus arrives at Portsmouth from South Seas
1838, – Cyrus surveyed by Lloyds
1838, June – Cyrus departs on a whaling voyage
In 1844, Richard Spratly was sailing past Manado, on Sulawesi. He became the witness to an attack by a local sultan on Erskine Murray's yacht Young Queen, captained by Captain Hait, and the brig Anne, captained by Captain Lewis. The account was documented in a letter titled 'Honorable E. Murray' and published in the Sydney Shipping Gazette.
Kema incident
According to accounts by the crew, on 24 February 1844, Cyrus anchored at Kema Roads, Celebes, with a valuable cargo of whale oil. The next day the crew went ashore, but returned a few men short. Two men, Heron and Robson, were spotted and told to return but fled after they were confronted, only to return later on the 28th. Crew members Howland and Heron went missing on 2 March. Finally on 3 March, after much searching and drunken antics by her crew on the Dutch-occupied island, Cyrus sailed away to return to England, but without the missing crew members.Upon returning to Great Britain in August 1844, the crew was summoned to a hearing by William Heron's mother. The incident had not been well documented, and there was not enough evidence to suggest one way or the other if Captain Spratly was guilty of abandoning them without a thorough search, therefore no jury trial followed. The account given by the newspapers was starkly different from the crew's accounts recorded by the courts, and gave more details of the course of events.
Crew
Circa. 1838–1844- Captain Richard Spratly, Master
- Chief Officer George Cotton
- Second Officer William Spratly
- Francis Rankin, Surgeon
- William Heron, Cooper's Mate
- Mr Howland
- Mr Robson
- Mr Brown
- George Lansdell
Contributions to navigational knowledge
On 29 March 1843, Spratly sighted what is now known in English as Spratly Island and Ladd Reef. Richard Spratly was the name reported by Captain Doyle of Australia and Captain Campbell of the Hydrographic Office His sighting was reported in The Nautical Magazine in the year 1843:
The publication of his voyage in the Nautical Magazine popularized his naming of the island, even though the island had previously been named "Horsburgh's Storm Island" by Captain James Horsburgh. The British Admiralty finally agreed that the scattered islands in the area be named the Spratly Islands.
Later voyages
1845, 22 May – Cyrus departs from The Downs1845, 18 Sept – Cyrus under Spratly in Batavia, from London, for South Seas
1848, 1 June – Cyrus, under Spratly, returns to England from the South Seas
1848, 8 June – Spratly stops being Master of Cyrus
1849, March – Spratly becomes Master of Margaret
1849, 1 April – Margaret, under Spratley, departs bound for the South Seas
1851, 11 April – Spratly letter in The Nautical Magazine
1852, unknown – Margaret, Spratly, master, bound for the South Sea
1852, 6 March – Spratly stops being master of Margaret
1853, 29 June – Richard Spratly makes claim for Master's certificate of service
1853, July – Richard Spratly granted Master's certificate in London
1858, 24 March – Atalanta, Capt. Spratly, belonging to Messrs. Wilson and Cooke, London, was despatched by Mr. J.B. Wilcocks, from Plymouth, on Wednesday, 24 March, with 396 Government emigrants for Melbourne, comprising 26 married couples, 98 single men, 163 single women, and 83 children, of whom 147 were English and 249 Irish; under the medical care of Mr. J.S. Ireland.
1858 7 June Atalanta arrives at Melbourne, Victoria and Sydney in 1859.
1860 5 March Atalanta departs England carrying 345 emigrants
1860 30 May Atalanta arrives Victoria, Australia after voyage of 86 days
1861 Richd Spratly noted in Census. Married, age 59. Master, not living on board. Vessel Atalanta. Number 5 Jetty North Side East India Docks
There is an entry for a Captain Richard Spratly as master of Redrose in 1864. It's not clear if this is the same Richard Spratly.