Abstract
CAPT. ETTRICK WILLIAM CREAK, who died in his sleep on April 3, was the son of the late Commander William Creak, of Norfolk, and a nephew of Sir H. Have-lock, of Lucknow fame. He joined the Navy in the navigating branch of that Service about the year 1849, and served in various ships afloat until he was selected in 1868 to serve as an assistant in the compass department of the Admiralty. His service afloat was distinguished not only by his nautical acquirements and the remarks he sent from time to time to the Hydrographer, for which he was specially thanked in 1866, but also by his knowledge of French and music, rather rare acquirements in those days. He was able to add to our knowledge of some unsurveyedlocalities by his study of surveying operations, particularly by a plan of Ngaloa Bay, in the Fiji Islands, when serving in H.M.S. Esk about 1866. About this time Capt. Creak turned his attention to the errors of the compass on board certain ships which had traversed a great range of mag-! netic latitude, which inquiry wasembodied in a jreportto theAdmiralty and publishedby the IBoard of Trade. This marked him out as a suitable officer to be employed in the investigation of compass errors in H.M. ships, which were being increasingly constructed ofiron andsteel. For his servicesin the compassdepartment and his magnetic reports he was made a fellow of the Royal Society in 1885, and he became superintendent of the Admiralty compass department in 1887.
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T., T. CAPT. E. W. CREAK, C.B., F.R.S. Nature 105, 300–301 (1920). https://doi.org/10.1038/105300b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/105300b0