Commander Samuel Sparshott (1783 – 10 November 1851) was an English officer of the Royal Navy, serving in the Napoleonic Wars.

He left most of his assets to his wife Elizabeth, and an annuity to his god-daughter Sarah Sparshott, the daughter of his brother Edward.

[14][nb 10] A memorial tablet carved by Charles Raymond Smith was erected to Samuel Sparshott behind the pulpit of St Ann's Church, HMNB Portsmouth.

[15] Its inscription says:[16] To the memory of Samuel Sparshott, Royal Navy, who departed this life the 10th November 1851, in his 69th year while filling the office of Deputy Comptroller General of the Coastguard which he had held for nearly 25 yrs.

[17] On 1 May 1803, at approximately 20 years old, Sparshott joined the Royal Navy as an able seaman, serving in the 98-gun HMS Prince of Wales under Captain John Giffard.

[7] Sparshott continued in the Prince of Wales, and then in the 110-gun HMS Ville de Paris, as midshipman and master's mate.

In the Ville de Paris he saw "action with the combined fleets of France and Spain off Cape Finisterre 22 July, 1805, and in the [120-gun] Caledonia, as Signal Mate, at the destruction of the French shipping in Basque Roads in April, 1809".

On 26 December 1811 he was appointed to the 32-gun frigate HMS Aquilon, under Captain William Bowles, serving in the North Sea and in the Baltic.

On 5 August 1814 he was appointed to the 36-gun frigate HMS Euphrates, serving again under Captain Robert Preston, and cruising the Western Isles.

[26] He was appointed to the 18-gun HMS Nimrod on 13 September 1826, but in the following winter that ship was damaged:[7] [The] vessel, by the breaking of her anchor, drove on the rocks in Holyhead Bay and bilged,[nb 11] during a gale from the north-north-west, on the night of 14 January 1827.

She was got off, however, by the utmost exertion on the part of her Commander, officers and crew, was placed in a dry dock, and on 3 March following was sold.

On the night of 14 January, Nimrod was taking shelter ...[31][32] ... having been nearly lost at sea on the previous day, in the same violent gale of wind by which she was driven on shore at that anchorage.

[The log] shews that all the resources and energies of the officers and men were employed to avert the danger, though not attended with the desired success – her fate was inevitable".

[31][32]Marshall (1827) has a little more of the story:[19] On the account of this disaster reaching the Admiralty, a Master-attendant was sent round with succours from Plymouth, but, owing to strong easterly winds, he did not arrive at Holyhead until after the Nimrod had, by very great exertions on the part of her commander, officers and crew, been floated off the rocks, and placed in a dry dock.

Early on the morning of 14 January the ship was hit by a gale so bad that she had to reef all sails but one, and that one was ripped to shreds by the weather:[31][32][33] A heavy gale, while hauling up the foresail, shipped a heavy sea, which carried away the larboard bulwarks, the starboard quarter boat, and davits, filled the lower deck, waist, cabin, and gun room with water, and threw the sloop almost on her beam ends, where she remained some seconds, very doubtful if she would recover herself.

In these conditions the crew were climbing among the spars, reefing sails, pulling down the foresail which was in pieces, and hoisting the fore-trysail as their only means of propulsion.

At this point, Sparshott ordered "guns of distress" to be fired, and the larger masts to be cut down, leaving one sail to keep some control of the vessel's position.

Local people came and twice tried to fire a line to the crew, using Captain Manby's life apparatus, but the attempts failed.

[35][36][37][38] While retaining the rank of commander for the rest of his life, Sparshott was promoted to Deputy Inspector-General of the Coast Guard on 16 May 1827.

Shore (1892) says:[43] This particular time was marked by the death of Commander Sparshott, the Deputy Comptroller-general, who from his long and intimate connection with the force might in truth have been styled the Father of the Coastguard.

Having been associated with it almost from its inception, he possessed a wider and more detailed knowledge of this branch of the public service than any living person, and his death at this particular period of its history was a singular coincidence.