William Rule (Surveyor of the Navy)


Sir William Rule was a shipbuilder and designer to the Royal Navy who rose to be Surveyor of the Navy.
Designing during the Napoleonic Wars, many of his ships took place in the critical battles: Nile, Trafalgar, Copenhagen, etc.

Life

He was born in south England around 1750.
He first appears in Royal Navy records in April 1778 as a master mastmaker at Woolwich Dockyard; however, this position infers both an apprenticeship as a ship's carpenter and a period in the dockyards as a standard mastmaker. In September 1778 he was promoted to master boatbuilder at Portsmouth Dockyard.
In February 1779 he moved to Sheerness Dockyard, first as master shipwright then as master caulker. By 1787 he was assistant master shipwright at Portsmouth Dockyard, and in March of that year was appointed master shipwright back at Sheerness Dockyard, thereafter having overall charge of all ships constructed there, and from this point the Royal Navy list the ships built under his charge.
In August 1790 he moved to Woolwich as master shipwright, and in February 1793 he was appointed Surveyor of the Navy, working alongside Sir John Henslow. In June 1806 Henslow retired and from then Rule worked with Henry Peake.
In June 1813 Rule was replaced as Surveyor of the Navy by Joseph Tucker and Robert Seppings apparently due to Rule's ill-health.
Rule died in 1816, his will being read on 29 February 1816. The will is held at the National Archives in Kew.

Ships built

Note: dates in brackets represent date of design not launch)
  • Amazon-class frigate four 36-gun frigates
  • Caledonia-class ship of the line nine huge 120-gun ships of the line
  • Merlin-class sloop
  • Albatross-class brig-sloop eight 18-gun brigs
  • HMS Dragon 74-gun ship of the line
  • HMS Acasta 40-gun frigate
  • HMS Naiad 38-gun frigate
  • Amphion-class frigate a number of 32-gun frigates
  • Snake-class ship-sloop a number of 18-gun sloops
  • Cruizer-class brig-sloop a number of 16-gun sloops
  • Courser-class gunboat a number of 12-gun gunboats
  • HMS Osprey 18-gun sloop
  • Apollo-class frigate twenty-seven 36-gun frigates
  • HMS Plantagenet 74-gun ship of the line
  • Lively-class frigate sixteen 38-gun frigates
  • Repulse-class ship of the line a series of eleven 74-gun ships of the line
  • HMS Ethalion 38-gun frigate
  • Archer-class gun-brig 12-gun gun-brig
  • HMS Euryalus 36-gun frigate
  • HMS Impregnable 98-gun ship of the line eventually launched in 1810
  • Confounder-class gun-brig a series of 12-gun gun-brigs
  • HMS Bulwark 74-gun ship of the line
  • HMS Seagull 16-gun sloop
  • Banterer-class post ship a series of six 22-gun post ships
  • HMS Horatio 38-gun frigate
  • HMS Bucephalus 32-gun frigate
  • HMS Tuscan 16-gun sloop
  • Decoy-class cutter three 10-gun cutters
  • Salisbury-class ship of the line a series of 50-gun ships of the line
  • HMS Bacchante 38-gun frigate
  • Bold-modified Confounder-class gun-brig a series of 12-gun gun-brigs
  • HMS Forte 38-gun frigate
  • HMS Jupiter 50-gun ship of the line
  • HMS Teazer 12-gun sloop
  • HMS Creole 36-gun frigate
  • Scamander-class frigate a series of ten 36-gun frigates
  • Cyrus-class ship-sloop a series of sixteen 20-gun flush-desk post-ships
  • Conway-class post ship a series of ten 20-gun post-ships
  • HMS Acute 12-gun brig
  • HMS Snapper 12-gun gun-brig
  • HMS Trafalgar huge 106-gun ship of the line
  • HMS Leander 58-gun frigate
  • HMS Bold 12-gun gun-brig
  • Favorite-class sloop a series of 18-gun sloops
  • HMS Griper 12-gun gun-brig
  • HMS Adder 12-gun gun-brig
  • HMS Havock 12-gun gun-brig
  • HMS Pelican 16-gun sloop