ADMIRAL

ADMIRAL, Admiratus, Admiralty, a great officer, who commands the naval forces of a kingdom or state; and before whom all causes are cognizable, relating to the sea. See NAVY, SEA, etc.Authors are divided about the origin and denomination of this important officer, whom we find established, with some variation, in most kingdoms that border on the sea. Some borrow it from the Greeks; the Captain of the Seas, under the Emperors of Constantinople, being called Australins or Alutiralis, from ανυδρος, saline, or ανυ, saltwater, and αρχω, princeps; in regard his jurisdiction lay on the sea, which the Latins call Salvi. But it is to be observed, that this officer did not have the supreme administration of naval affairs; that immediately belonged to the Dux Magnus, or grand General; to whom the Amiralius was subordinate, in quality of Protocomes, first Count, or Associate. See COMUS.



Others derive the name from the Arabic Amir or Emir, Lord; and the Greek θάλασσα, marine: and accordingly, we frequently find Emir in Zonaras, Cedrenus, Nicetas, and other Greeks of that time, used in the sense of a commander.Add, that in the Life of St. Peter Dhomafius, we meet with Admiratus Ferufalem, for the Governor of Jerusalem, under the Soldan of Egypt. And hence, some will have both the name and the dignity of Oriental, and even Saracen extraction: As, in effect, there are no instances of Admirals in this part of Europe, before the year 1284;when Philip of France, who had attended St. Louis to the wars against the Saracens, created an Admiral.

To say no more, Du Cange assures us, that the Sicilians were the first, and the Genoese the next after them, who gave the denomination Admiral to the commanders of their naval armaments; and that they took it from the Saracen or Arabic Amir, a general name for any commanding officer.The first Admiral we read of in our British Affairs, was under Edward I.

The Lord High Admiral of England, in some ancient records called Capitaneus Mariniorum, is judge or president of the Court of Admiralty. See ADMIRAL'S COURT.He takes cognizance, by himself, his lieutenant, or deputies, of all crimes committed on the sea, or the coasts thereof; and all the civil and marine transactions relating thereto: As also of what is done in all great ships, riding in any great river, beneath the bridges thereof next the sea.

Anciently, the Admiral had also jurisdiction in all causes of merchants and mariners; not only on the sea, but in all foreign parts. We have had no High Admiral for some years; the office being put in commission, or under the administration of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty.See COMMISSION.

Admiral is also used for the commander in chief of a single fleet, or squadron. See FLEET.Thus, we say, the Admiral of the Red; Admiral of the White; and Admiral of the Blue. See SQUADRON, NAVY, etc.

The term is also applied to all flag-officers: In which sense it includes Vice-Admirals and Rear-Admirals. See FLAG-OFFICER.

ADMIRAL