Tuhia he tomokanga mō tēnei wāhanga - Ko te tama anake o Dr. Stephen Briggs, Chief Surgeon i Madras, me Magdalene Pasley, i uru a Briggs ki te Navy i te 10 o Mahuru 1791. I mahi tuatahi ia hei kaimahi rangatahi i runga i te kaipuke, i raro i te whakahau a tona matua keke, a Kapene Thomas Pasley. I muri mai ka whai ia i a ia ki te kaipuke me te taumata o te kaipuke. I waenga i te 1793 me te 1798 i mahi a Briggs i raro i a Kapene Charles Tyler i te, me te whai waahi ki nga mahi ki a Toulon me Corsica i te 1793-94, ka kite i te mahi i raro i a Admiral William Hotham i te Pakanga o Genoa
i te 14 o Poutu-te-rangi me te Pakanga o nga Moutere o Hyères i te 13 o Hurae 1795.