Henry Boyle Townshend Somerville (September 7, 1863 - March 24, 1936) was an Irish Royal Navy officer, hydrogapher, and author. Born in Castletownshend County, Cork, Somerville entered the Royal Navy in 1877 as a cadet. In 1880 he was sent to South America and in 1882 served in the Anglo-Egyptian War. He spent the following four years on the China Station. He chose to be trained as a Hydrographic Surveyor because he saw good promotion prospects and believed it offered a freer existence when compared with much of Navy life. Between 1890 and 1908, Somerville took part in numerous survey expeditions to the South Pacific and Indian Oceans and then surveyed British coastal waters from 1908 until 1914. He was promoted to commander on December 31, 1901, and captain in 1912. He commanded four different vessels between 1914 and 1916 in the North Atlantic Patrol during World War I around Madeira, the Canary Islands, the Azores, and the Cape Verde Islands. At one point he spent 385 consecutive nights at sea since there were no safe harbors in these island groups. He was transferred to Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1917 and commanded the HMS Devonshire in support of Atlantic convoys. In late summer 1917, Somerville was appointed 'officer in charge of the Naval Section within the Secret Service Bureau' (better known as the British Secret Intelligence Service). He retired on August 2, 1919 and returned to Castletownshend and the family home. During his retirement Somerville continued to work for the Admiralty, working on the Tidal Committee and in the Hydrographic Office. He also published several books, including Ocean Passages in 1923 and continued to work in archaeology and ethnography, two disciplines he had worked in during his time in the Navy. Somerville was murdered in his home on March 24, 1936, by the IRA (Irish Republican Army). A note left by the assassin stated that 'This British agent has recruited 52 boys to the British Army in the past few months'. Unfortunately, the shooting was likely a case of mistaken identity, as his brother who served in the Army lived close by was much more prominent and the more likely target. In his later years, IRA leader Tom Barry stated that the shooting was a mistake and that he was supposed to be taken hostage.



Out of Stock Maps