Thomas Hastings (admiral)

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Admiral Sir Thomas Hastings, KCB DL (1790–1870) was a British artist, innovator, instructor, and distinguished officer of the Royal Navy. He was renowned as an expert gunner, and some believe him to be the first officer to take a truly scientific approach to gunnery.

While a lieutenant in 1812, he painted Storm at Sea. On April 29, 1812, Hastings participated in an attack led by Captain Ussher on French privateers of Málaga, in which he performed admirably, commanding twenty men in the attack.

In 1814, as a first lieutenant, he escorted Napoleon into his exile on Elba. From November 14, 1828 until July 22, 1830, he commanded HMS Ferret in the Mediterranean with the rank of commander. He was then promoted captain.

On April 13, 1832, Captain Hastings took command of the sixth-rate training ship HMS Excellency, and became noted for his training methods, although some in the admiralty disapproved of his emphasis on science, and found his reports on gunnery confusing, as they had little knowledge of science themselves. He was knighted in 1839. The first diving training in the Royal Navy occurred in 1844 under Hastings' watch.

He left command of Excellency on August 28, 1845, after his appointment as Storekeeper of the Ordnance on July 25, 1845. He held that post until it was abolished with the dissolution of the Board of Ordnance in 1855. On September 27, 1855 he was promoted rear admiral, and on October 4, 1862 vice admiral. On April 2, 1866, he retired from the navy with the rank of admiral.