Admiral Sir Arthur Mostyn Field (1855 - 1950)

Admiral Field enlisted in 1868 as a cadet in the Royal Navy, where he joined the training ship HMS Britannia. After two years basic training he was appointed in succession to HMS Trafalgar and HMS Narcissus as a midshipman.

He was promoted lieutenant in 1875 and in the following year was posted to the newly converted survey ship, HMS Fawn, spending the next four years in the Red Sea, the Mediterranean and the east coast of Africa, followed by a survey mission to the Oil Rivers of West Africa. In 1882 he went in HMS Sylvia to survey the Straits of Magellan. He was promoted commander in 1889 and served from 1890 to 1894 on HMS Egeria around Borneo. He was made captain in 1895, and given command of HMS Penguin to survey islands in the south west Pacific (1896–99).

He was appointed Hydrographer of the Navy in 1904 and elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1905 as a “distinguished hydrographic surveyor”. His application citation referred to “Marine Surveys in command of HM Ships from 1886 to 1904 in Australia, Pacific Islands, China Seas, and British Islands.” and said he had done much for the scientific explorations of the deep oceans. He was appointed rear admiral in 1906, vice admiral in 1910 and placed on the retired list later that year. He was made Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in the 1911 Coronation Honours and advanced to the rank of admiral on the Retired List on 4 June 1913.

He wrote on surveying, expanding the textbook “Hydrographical Surveying” written by Admiral Sir William Wharton. He died in Christchurch, Hampshire in 1950.