Thomas Briggs ( Royal Navy officer ) Admiral Sir Thomas Briggs ( 1780 – 16 December 1852 ) was an officer of the British Royal Navy who served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , and went on to be Commander - in - Chief , Portsmouth . Biography . The only surviving son of Dr . Stephen Briggs , Chief Surgeon at Madras , and Magdalene Pasley , Briggs entered the Navy on 10 September 1791 . He first served as a first class volunteer aboard the ship , under the command of his uncle Captain Thomas Pasley . He later followed him into the ship with the rank of midshipman . Between 1793 and 1798 Briggs served under Captain Charles Tyler in the , and , taking part in the operations against Toulon and Corsica in 1793 - 94 , and saw action under Admiral William Hotham in the Battle of Genoa on 14 March and the Battle of Hyères Islands on 13 July 1795 . Briggs was promoted to lieutenant on 28 September 1797 , and was transferred from " Aigle " to , flagship of Admiral Earl St . Vincent off Lisbon , and shortly afterwards moved to , flying the flag of Rear - Admiral Thomas Frederick off Cádiz . On 10 July 1799 Briggs was appointed acting - commander of the sloop , and was officially confirmed in that rank on 30 June 1800 , having taken part in the reduction of Genoa earlier . In March 1801 he was sent by Captain Manley Dixon of at Port Mahon , to Rear - Admiral Sir John Borlase Warren ' s fleet with the news that Admiral Honoré Ganteaume had sailed from Toulon bound for Egypt . Warren intercepted the French fleet and pursued them back to Toulon . Briggs was then engaged in the expedition to Egypt under Lord Keith and Sir Ralph Abercromby , for which he was awarded the Turkish Gold Medal and the Order of the Crescent , and was promoted to post - captain on 24 July 1801 . He commanded , flagship of Sir Richard Bickerton off Alexandria , then on the Mediterranean and Home stations from 1802 . From 14 December 1805 he was appointed to command of the frigate , and in late 1806 captured two privateers ; " Guadeloupe " of 3 guns and 54 men on 25 September , and " Susanna " of 4 guns and 20 men on 12 November . " Orpheus " was shortly after wrecked on a coral reef off Port Royal , Jamaica , on 23 January 1807 , and Briggs had to be rescued from the bowsprit of his ship by a boat from . On 27 April 1808 Briggs took temporary command of off L ' Orient , before assuming command of on 7 November , sailing to the East Indies Station . There , on 28 January 1810 , he captured the privateer " L ' Henri " , of 8 guns and 57 men , and proved of material service in disembarking the troops at the reduction of the " Île de France " in December 1810 . He was next employed in the China Sea , and in October 1814 , took command of in which he served on the Lisbon , Cork , and Mediterranean stations , before being paid off on 19 July 1816 . On 15 May 1818 , Briggs joined , as Flag - Captain to Sir George Campbell , Commander - in - Chief , Portsmouth , serving there until February 1821 . In 1823 Briggs was appointed Resident Commissioner of the Royal Naval Dockyard at Bermuda . He transferred to Malta in 1829 , being promoted to Rear - Admiral on 27 June 1832 , and was appointed Superintendent of the Malta Dockyard , remaining in that post until 1838 . He was awarded the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1833 , for his services while in temporary command of the Mediterranean Squadron , and was promoted to Vice - Admiral on 23 November 1841 . Briggs was promoted to Admiral of the Blue on 1 July 1851 , and from September served as Commander - in - Chief , Portsmouth , flying his flag on , and dying in office in December 1852 . Personal life . In 1814 he married Isabella Harriet Trepand , and had three sons and a daughter . His eldest son , George Campbell Briggs , died while serving in the Navy with the rank of lieutenant . His daughter married Captain George Bohun Martin , RN .