Col. Thomas Middleton, Surveyor of the Navy, world trader

From http://www.pepysdiary.com/p/7120.php

Middleton, Col. Thomas
L&M say…
(d.1672). Navy Commissioner, Portsmouth 1664-7; Surveyor of the Navy 1667-72; Navy Commissioner, Chatham 1672.
Little is known of his background except that he had risen to rank of colonel in the Parliamentary Army, had traded with the West Indies and New England, and had travelled both in the New World and the Mediterranean, becoming a member of the Council for Plantations in 1660… (Further info has spoilers)