THOMAS BRIGGS is a military intelligence professional; tall ship sailor; and scholar of 18th century naval warfare. Having enlisted in the Navy Reserve in 2005, he was deployed to Iraq in 2008 with NMCB Three and again to Afghanistan in 2010-11 with SEAL Team Four. A counter-terrorism analyst by training and experience, he was commissioned as a Chief Warrant Officer in 2019 and deployed to Bahrain in 2024.
His civilian career has involved working in institutions of higher education and premier entertainment facilities. He is currently employed by Virginia Commonwealth University, though he's had a thirty-year career in safety and risk management at institutions such as the University of Central Florida, the City University of New York, Madison Square Garden, and the American Museum of Natural History. Of note, he was the Director of Safety at Madison Square Garden on 11 September 2001.
Briggs was first drawn to tall ships during a visit to the South Street Seaport Museum in New York City. He joined the crew of the 1885 schooner Pioneer and learned sailing and seamanship on New York Harbor. He has since sailed as captain and crew on vessels in Florida, the Chesapeake Bay and the Caribbean. He obtained his USCG license as master of vessels under fifty tons on inland waters and is skipper the Chesapeake Bay skipjack, Claud W. Somers.
HOMEPORT: Richmond, Virginia
AREAS OF EXPERTISE: Naval warfare in the mid to late 18th century, with a focus on traditional vessels used by European nations.
NOTABLE PUBLICATIONS:
Briggs, T. (2025). War on the Inland Sea. Vanguard Press.
Briggs, T. (2020). The Dummett Freighter: A Nineteenth-century Log Sailing Canoe from Northeastern Florida. The Mariner’s Mirror 106(12), 188-200.
Briggs, T. (2014). Naw Bahar District 2010-11: A Case Study of Counterinsurgency
Conducted by Naval Special Warfare in Afghanistan. Small Wars and Insurgencies 25(1), 122-136.
Briggs, T. (2015). The Third Order Effect: Understanding the Risks to Academia from Engaging with the SOF Enterprise. Small Wars Journal: http://smallwarsjournal.com/