Fredric Henric af Chapman (September 9, 1721 in Gothenburg – August 19, 1808) was a Swedish naval architect, promoted to vice admiral in 1791, manager of the shipyard at Karlskrona between 1782-1793.

His father was an English naval officer, Thomas Chapman (born 1679 in Yorkshire), who moved to Sweden in 1715 and joined the Royal Swedish Navy and his mother was the daughter of a shipwright. Chapman was ennobled in 1772.

At the age of 15 Chapman moved to Stockholm to learn the art of shipbuilding. During a visit to England in 1741 he was arrested when visiting a shipyard. Upon release, he was offered English service, which he declined. In 1750, he studied mathematics under Thomas Simpson, applying Simpson's rules for integrating curves in ship design to calculate areas, volumes and moments. In 1744 he and another person established a shipyard in Gothenburg. Between 1752-56 he studied abroad. In 1757 he was commissioned as a junior shipwright by the Royal Swedish Navy and tasked with designing a couple of shallow draft vessels for the Finnish archipelago or coastal fleet. 1764 he was promoted to senior shipwright. Requested by King Gustav III to comment on Patrik Miller's warship "Experiment" (which Miller had sent to the King) he called it the English (sic) sea-spook. The King as thanks despatched a snuff-box filled with Swede seeds. The snuff box, illustrated with marine scenes, including "Experiment", is now in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. In 1767, af Chapman was elected a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

Chapman was the author of Architectura Navalis Mercatoria (1768) and several other shipbuilding-related works. His Tractat om Skepps-Byggeriet ("Treatise on Shipbuilding") published in 1775 is a pioneering work in modern naval architecture.

See also

• Jacobstads Wapen
• Swedish Amphion

References

• William Scanlan Murphy (8 April 1989). "Science and the stability of ships / Review of 'F H Chapman: The First Naval Architect and his work' By Daniel Gibson Harris". New Scientist (1659). http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg12216594.100-science-and-the-stability-of-ships--review-of-f-h-chapmanthe-first-naval-architect-and-his-work-by-daniel-harris-.html. 

Further reading

• F. H. Chapman: the first naval architect and his work (1989) - Daniel G. Harris, Conway Maritime Press ISBN 0851774865
• Gibson Harris, Daniel (1989). F H Chapman: The First Naval Architect and his work. Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0870210521. 

External links

• The Maritim museum, Stockholm - Chapman Net.
• Chapman's entry at Svenskt biografiskt handlexikon
• Chapman at Nordisk Familjebok
• af Chapman (ship)
• HTML-versions of both Architectura Navalis Merchatoria (in latin, English, French and Swedish) and Tract om Skepps Buggeriet (in Swedish)

File:Logo fö This article contains content from the Owl Edition of Nordisk familjebok, a Swedish encyclopedia published between 1904 and 1926 now in public domain.