Barnett, Edward

Edward Barnett, (1799 - September 7, 1879) was a British officer in the Royal Navy. He entered the navy as a boy in 1811, was commissioned Lieutenant in 1826, and climbed through the officer ranks for the rest of his life: he made Commander in 1838, Captain in 1846, and retired as an Admiral. His career focused on hydrographic surveys: his service as Lieutenant was aboard a survey cutter off the Jersey coast in the English Channel. He joined the Hydrographic Department in 1830. Between 1833 and 1835, he commanded the schooner Jackdaw, surveying Costa Rica (this ship was lost on an uncharted reef off the coast of Nicaragua). He was apparently not found at fault for the loss, for he was given command in 1835 and 1837 of other survey vessels, finally becoming Commander of the 12-gun Thunder, which he would captain on surveys on the North American coast and West Indies until 1846. During this period, Barmett would produce an array of important, foundational charts of American waters published by the Admiralty. These would be updated and improved upon for decades thereafter. His work was highly regarded even as it was underway: in 1842, The Journal of the Royal Geographic Society praised his work in the Bahamas in particular, whose coasts were 'till recently quite unknown, and their longitude in some places, erroneous by a whole degree. The minute examination of the many dangerous shoals, and bays, and coral banks, which are found in these seas has been followed by real benefit.'