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Vicente Maria de Moura Coutinho de Almeida d'Eça was born on 15 August 1852 in Porto into a family of aristocratic descent. His paternal grandparents, Dionísio de Moura Coutinho de Almeida d'Eça (1778-?) — a Knight of the Order of Christ and Captain of Esgueira (Aveiro) — and Teresa Febrónia de Paiva e Sousa (1784-1849), had a large family of ten children. One of their sons, Vicente de Moura Coutinho de Almeida d'Eça (1819-1888), a nobleman of the Royal Household and an engineer in the Direção de Obras Públicas [Directorate of Public Works], married Maria Júlia Barbosa de Lima. This union produced Vicente de Almeida d'Eça, a future naval officer who married Joana de Oliveira de Queirós in Porto in 1877. As he notes on the first page of his diary, Anais de U m Guarda-Marinha [Annals of a Midshipman], the young Vicente Almeida d'Eça joined the Navy as an extraordinary midshipman cadet in 1870 and took his exams at the Escola Politécnica [Polytechnic School] the following year. Promoted to midshipman cadet (1871), he completed his second year at the Escola Naval [Naval School] in 1873. This was followed by his first embarkation on the frigate D. Fernando II e Glória, where he was promoted to naval officer in 1874. Over the next ten years, he served on various sailing ships, including the corvette Infante D. João, the frigate D. Fernando II e Glória, the corvette Bartolomeu Dias, the barge Martinho de Melo, and the corvette Sá da Bandeira, as well as mixed sailing and steam ships such as the corvettes Mindelo, Estefânia, and the armoured corvette Vasco da Gama. He also served on exclusively steam ships, including the Quelimane. Promoted to second lieutenant in 1877 and first lieutenant in 1884, he subsequently applied to teach the sixth subject at the Escola Naval : International Maritime Law and Maritime History, which was approved. Thus, by decree of 18 May 1885, he assumed the position of lecturer at the Escola Naval, succeeding Admiral Carlos Testa in teaching these subjects to future naval officers. He would continue to teach at the Escola Naval until the end of his career. |
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