Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Caffin, James Crawford
CAFFIN, Sir JAMES CRAWFORD (1812–1883), admiral, was a son of Mr. William Caffin of the Royal Laboratory, Woolwich. He entered the navy in 1824, and in 1827 was midshipman of the Cambrian frigate at Navarino, and when she was wrecked off Carabusa on 31 Jan. 1828 (Marshall, Nav. Biog. vi. (supplement, part ii.) 451). In August 1831 he passed his examination, and in October 1834 was appointed to the Excellent, then recently organised as a school of gunnery. He afterwards served for two years as gunnery-mate of the Asia in the Mediterranean, and on his promotion to the rank of lieutenant, 28 June 1838, he was again appointed to the Excellent, in which, with but a short break, he remained for the next three years. He was made commander on 7 March 1842, and after studying for some months at the Royal Naval College at Portsmouth, was appointed, together with an artillery officer, to investigate and report on Warner's ‘Long Range,’ which was then much talked about; but the report was unfavourable, and it died out of notoriety. In February 1845 he was one of a commission for experimenting on the relative merits of paddle and screw; and their report paved the way for the general introduction of the screw-propeller into the navy. On 11 Oct. 1847 he was advanced to post rank; in 1854 he commanded the Penelope in the Baltic, and was present at the reduction of Bomarsund; and in 1855 he commanded the Hastings at the bombardment of Sveaborg, when, with the other captains, he was made a C.B. on 5 July. On his return from the Baltic he was appointed director-general of naval ordnance, and vice-president of the ordnance select committee at the War Office. In 1858 he was appointed director of stores in the war department, an office which he held till 1868. On his retirement he was made a civil K.C.B. He had previously, 2 Dec. 1865, attained his flag-rank, but, not having served his time at sea, was placed on the retired list, on which he duly advanced to the higher grades—vice-admiral, 2 Nov. 1871, and admiral, 1 Aug. 1877. He died on 24 May 1883 at Blackheath, where he had lived for several years, the centre of a religious society of very pronounced views. He married in 1843 Frances, daughter of Mr. William Atfield of Cosham, Hampshire, but was left a widower in 1871. His son Crawford, a commander in the navy, received his promotion for his services in the transport department during the Zulu war in 1879.
[O'Byrne's Nav. Biog. Dict.; Times, 26 May 1883.]