(photo Caroline Favier)
| He was King
Chulalongkorn’s
son. He was born on December 19, 1880. He studied in the Grand Palace
and
learned English from Mr. Morant, who was British. On December 1, 1892,
he
went to the United Kingdom to attend a naval instruction course. After
he
graduated in 1900, he became Lieutenant Junior Grade, the equivalent of
Lieutenant-Commander nowadays, by Royal order of King Chulalongkorn. He
appointed
Prince Chumporn Ket Udomsak as Commander on HTMS Maruthawasitsawat. On September 16, 1901 he became the Deputy Commander of the Navy Department and he restructured the Navy Department in 1903. In 1905 he improved the curriculum of the Royal Thai Naval Academy. Then, in 1907, one hundred naval cadets joined and showed the flag of the Royal Thai Navy on HTMS Makutrachakumarn in Singapore, Java and the Billiton Islands in Indonesia. On May 19, 1923, he contracted flu and got a high fever. He died in the quarters of the King in Hat-Say-Ree village, Chumporn Province. In the Royal Thai Navy, we call him the "Father of the Royal Thai Navy", and we should remember him always. |
| References: จันทวิรัช, พลเรือเอก ประพัฒน. พระประวัติและพระกรณียกิจในสมัยรัชกาลที่ ๕ ของ พลเรือเอกพระเจ้าบรมวงศ์เธอ กรมหลวงชุมพรเขตอุดมศักดิ์ รวบรวมจากเอกสารราชการ. กรุงเทพฯ: โรงพิมพ์เจริญธรรม, ๒๕๒๗. Last update: Humanities Department, October 2004. |
