Anthony Deane

Sir Anthony Deane, FRS (1633 1721) was an English shipwright and politician who sat in the English House of Commons and served as mayor of Harwich. Early life Deane was baptised at Stow-on-the-Wold, Gloucestershire, on 3 December 1633. He is described in his Grant of Arms in 1683, as "son of Anthony, of London, gent., deceased, son of Anthony, of county Gloucester". At an early age he was apprenticed to master shipwright Christopher Pett at Woolwich Dockyard, and was appointed as the Dockyard's assistant shipwright in 1660. Naval career In August 1662 Deane met Samuel Pepys, the Clerk of the Acts and member of the Navy Board. Pepys was impressed with Deane's ability and saw in him a potential rival for Christopher Pett, against whom Pepys held a political grudge. On Pepys' recommendation, the Navy Board reopened the derelict Harwich Dockyard in October 1664 and appointed Deane as its master shipwright, elevating him from being Pett's assistant to his nominal equal. For Deane, the promotion meant that he would have a free hand in designing and constructing naval vessels, albeit at a smaller dockyard than the great Navy establishments of Portsmouth, Plymouth or Deptford.