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Richard. Sir Richard, it appears, was an influential shipowner. 
He husbanded, at the time we speak of, two ships in the Company’s 
service. Struck with Mr. Huddart’s practical acquaintance with 
shipbuilding—(how true it is that the boy makes the man)—and 
with his sound knowledge of maritime matters generally, he felt 
that Mr. Huddart’s proper sphere was in a much more enlarged 
field of duty. Sir Richard accordingly pressed him to enter the 
Company’s service. After much deliberation, Mr. Huddart con- 
sented to try one voyage. He accordingly sailed as 4th officer in 
the York from the Downs, on Christmas Eve, 1773, bound to 
St. Helena and Bencoolen. In the course of this voyage he made 
many useful surveys, particularly on the west coast of Sumatra, and 
returned to England in October, 1775. With a heavy heart anda 
light purse, he went back to his native village. The voyage, though 
a profitable one to the owners, had, unhappily, proved a disastrous 
one to the officers who traded on their own account. He therefore 
resumed command of his little brig which he had been so slow to 
part from, and ran her in the coal trade from Maryport to Ireland 
and back, until the following October, when he proceeded to 
London from Cork with a cargo of ship’s provisions to the order 
of Sir Richard Hotham. 
In 1777 we find Mr. Huddart engaged upon his famous survey 
of the St. George’s Channel. It was a work of great magnitude 
and importance, and beset with corresponding difficulties. He had 
no solid foundation, so to speak, on which to build, there being at 
that time no accurate chart of the Channel. The survey, however, 
after much patient industry and unflagging perseverance, was 
successfully completed. The work, which was originally dated on — 
board the Royal Admiral, hereinafter mentioned, 31st March, 1778, — 
fully established, when published, Mr. Huddart’s reputation as a 
hydrographer, and ‘“ Huddart’s Chart” was the talk of every seaman. 
For years it was the only trustworthy chart of that Channel, and I 
am much mistaken if the Government charts of more recent days 
have not been based upon it. 
After this notable achievement, which resulted in so much 
good to the country, Mr. Huddart shortly afterwards joined the — 
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