the chronology of this episode is difficult to corroborate with the prince's known postings and movements during his time in Britain, and the story has been described as one that 'may fit more easily into the category of legend than into that of fact.' Abhakara returned to Siam in 1900 to serve in the creation of Royal Siamese Navy. He was made Director of the Naval Education Department, and subsequently named Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Siamese Navy in 1903–10, in which role he contributed significantly to the modernisation of the force. He was removed from public duties between 1911 and 1917, possibly as a result of rumors about his implication in plots against his half-brother, now king Vajiravudh. During this period, he studied saiyasat and saiwet, traditional Thai forms of healing and protective magic, as well as folk healing and herbal medicine. Rehabilitated in 1917, he was made Inspector-General of the Royal Siamese Navy, followed by the office of Chief of the General Staff of the Royal Siamese Navy in 1918, Acting Minister of Marine in 1922, and Minister of Marine in 1923. In 1920, he returned to England to negotiate the purchase of the destroyer HMS Radiant, which was transferred to the Royal Siamese Navy in September as Phra Ruang. He commanded the ship during its subsequent voyage home. In 1922 he saw that Sattahip Bay was a strategic place for the establishment of a naval base and offered royal land in Sattahip in order to build the present-day naval facilities. In honor of his contributions, the prince was proclaimed "The father of the Royal Thai Navy". Abhakara was also a practitioner of muay Thai. During King Vajiravudh's reign, he trained many muay Thai boxers, many of whom went on to become trainers themselves. Death Not long after being honoured to the title "Commander in Chief, Admiral and Father" of the Siamese Navy, Abhakara resigned from office on the grounds of ill health. He travelled for rehabilitation to Monthon Surat for a month, and then to Hat Ree beach in Chumphon province. He contracted influenza after an accidental exposure cold rain, which worsened his condition sharply, and died at the age of 42, on 19 May 1923, at 11:40 am. The Royal Thai Navy marks 19 May annually as the "Abhakara Memorial Day". Ancestry Royal decorations Domestic Order of the Royal House of Chakri Order of the Nine