User:Wee Curry Monster/Henry Smith

Captain Henry Smith was a 19th Century naval officer in the Royal Navy. Whilst still a Lieutenant serving aboard HMS Tyne, in 1832 he volunteered to become the first British resident in the Falkland Islands, a position he remained in until he resigned the post in 1838. Although he was solely responsible for redeveloping the settlement at Port Louis in the Falkland Islands from a dilipidated state, he never received official recognition for his efforts and was even censored by his commanding officer. After resigning he returned to the UK and in 1844 was appointed as commander of the sloop HMS Rattler, a ship built to test the merits of the screw propeller which was tested against paddle steamers to prove the superiority of this form of naval propulsion. In 1853, he was appointed to command the iron screw ship HMS Simoom in the Crimean War but died aboard the ship the following year.