Cowper Phipps Coles Captain Cowper Phipps Coles , C . B . , R . N . ( 1819 – 7 September 1870 ) , the son of the Reverend John Coles and his wife Mary Ann Goodhew Rogers , was an English naval captain and inventor . Coles died when HMS " Captain " , an experimental warship built to his designs , sank with him on board . Naval career . He entered the Royal Navy at the age of eleven . On 9 January 1846 , he was promoted to Lieutenant and on 5 December 1849 posted to " Phaeton " commanded by George Augustus Elliot . On 24 October 1853 , he was posted to " Agamemnon " as flag lieutenant for his uncle , Rear Admiral Sir Edmund Lyons . He distinguished himself at the siege of Sevastopol during the Crimean War against Russia . On 13 November 1854 promoted to Commander and on 2 August 1856 was commander of the paddle boat " Stromboli " in the Black Sea . It was at this time that he and other British naval officers and sailors constructed a raft named the " Lady Nancy " from twenty - nine casks lashed together with spars . The raft supported a long 32 pounder gun and because of its small draft could be moved into shallow water from where it was used to attack Russian government stores in Taganrog . Coles became a hero for this action , when the press correspondent on board " Stromboli " reported his daring deeds . Coles expanded the idea by drawing up plans for a better raft , mounting a gun enclosed within a hemispherical shield . Admiral Lyons was impressed with the ideas and Coles was sent to London to present his ideas to the Admiralty . Plans were prepared for rafts with a draught of which would be used to attack the Kronstadt forts . The rafts would be able to approach through shallow waters not protected by the fort guns . Unfortunately for Coles , the war ended before the raft could be built . Turret ship designer . On 27 February 1856 , Coles was made captain . He was placed on half pay after the war ended and spent his time creating designs for turret ships . Up to this time the principal armament of warships had been batteries of guns firing from fixed ports in the sides of the ship . On 10 March 1859 he filed a patent for a revolving turret , although it is not clear how he came by the idea . The American , constructed by John Ericsson in 1861 , incorporated a revolving turret and Ericsson claimed the idea of a revolving protected gun was an old one . " The Times " suggested that Marc Brunel had given Coles the idea . Coles ' design aim was to create a ship with the greatest possible all round arc of fire , as low in the water as possible to minimise the target . This proved to be a weakness in designs he created , because he was unwilling to compromise these aims for the practical necessities of sailing ships rigging , decks sufficiently high to be clear of heavy seas and other necessary superstructures which restricted the guns rotation . The Admiralty accepted the principle of the turret gun as a useful innovation , and incorporated it into other new designs . However , they could not accept his other ideas on ship design . Coles submitted a design for a ship having ten domed turrets each housing two large guns . The design was rejected as impractical , although the Admiralty remained interested in turret ships and instructed its own designers to create better designs . Coles submitted his plans to anyone who might be interested and succeeded in enlisting a number of supporters , including Prince Albert , who wrote to the first Lord of the Admiralty , the Duke of Somerset , supporting the construction of a turret ship . In January 1862 , the Admiralty agreed to construct a ship , the HMS " Prince Albert " , which had four turrets and a low freeboard , intended only for coastal defence . Coles was allowed to design the turrets , but the ship was the responsibility of the chief Constructor Isaac Watts . Coles had another proposal , to take an existing timber ship , remove its upper decks and existing broadside guns and replace them with four turrets on a flat deck . The ship was also to be fitted with of armour in a belt around the waterline . was completed in August 1864 , ahead of " Prince Albert " . Like " Albert " it had only minimal sails intended to steady the ship rather than drive it along at any speed . The low freeboard was countered by hinged sections increasing the height of the sides above the deck ; these were dropped down to allow the guns to fire . Coles later took command of " Royal Sovereign " for the July 1867 Naval Review . While these ships were building , Coles made further proposals which the Admiralty resisted pending completion of the trial ships already under construction . However , once " Royal Sovereign " was completed and had received favourable reports , he requested Admiralty assistance in creating a new design . This was to be based upon the existing HMS " Pallas " designed by the new Chief Constructor , Edward James Reed . The Admiralty provided the original plans of the ship plus Joseph Scullard , constructor at Portsmouth dockyard , to assist . The resulting single turret design was rejected , but the Admiralty instructed Reed to create a larger version with two turrets which became HMS " Monarch " , laid down in 1866 and completed in June 1869 . Coles complained at the inclusion of a forecastle and poop which prevented the guns firing fore and aft , and the high position of the guns above water level , but his objections were dismissed . Reed maintained the features were all intended to improve seaworthiness . HMS " Captain " . Coles once again resorted to appealing to public opinion to obtain support for a ship more closely in accord with his design ideas . The civilian First Lord remained agreeable to his plans , although the Board of Admiralty was split . Eventually the Board agreed to pay for the construction of a ship , although this was to be supervised by Coles himself in an Admiralty - approved yard ; Laird Brothers agreed to build her . Plans for were submitted to the Admiralty as would be normal , but Reed declined to ' approve ' them , instead marking all drawings ' not objected to ' . He eventually resigned over the affair in July 1870 , two months before the disaster . Construction commenced in January 1867 . " Captain " was designed to have a freeboard of only , but owing to mistakes in construction leading to increased weight , the ship eventually floated lower in the water . She had a full set of sails and the highest masts in the navy . She was completed in January 1870 , and initial trials were successful . In May , she accompanied the Channel fleet and successfully weathered a gale . Vice - Admiral Sir Thomas Symmonds commanding commented favorably on both " Captain " and " Monarch " . " Captain " achieved , compared to " Monarch " s under steam , but with smaller engines . Under sail , " Captain " was faster . All in all , she was hailed as a vindication of Coles ' ideas . In August , the ship sailed again with Coles on board . The weather deteriorated , and again she had to face a gale . This time , however , the wind was gusting and unpredictable . Extensive rigging had been necessary to make the ship oceangoing . This forced the creation of a " hurricane deck " above the turrets , which increasingly caught the wind as she heeled over . This may have been instrumental in " Captain " s tragic capsize . Coles perished in the disaster after midnight on the night of 6 September . It emerged that the ship had a maximum righting moment at an angle of heel around 18 degrees . If she was pushed over beyond this angle , the moment declined . By contrast , " Monarch " had a maximum restoring force at an angle of 40 degrees , so that any heel up to this limit would always meet increasing resistance . Family . In 1856 , Coles married Emily Pearson , niece of Admiral Lord Lyons . Coles was himself a nephew , by marriage , of Admiral Lord Lyons , his mother being the sister of Augusta , Lyons ' wife .