JOSEPH JAMES, Esq.
[Post-Captain of 1809.]
Son of an opulent and respectable tradesman in Somersetshire, who dying when he was very young, left him to the care of an elder brother, by whom he was sent over to Valogne, in Normandy, for the purpose of learning the French language; in which town he continued to reside until Louis XVI. issued an edict to seize all British ships in the ports of his kingdom, March 18, 1778[1].
This officer entered the naval service in May 1779, as a midshipman, on board the Stag 32, commanded by Captain Robert Palliser Cooper[2], and then employed on the Irish station; but subsequently attached to the Channel fleet, under the orders of Sir Charles Hardy. Whilst in that frigate, he assisted at the capture of many vessels, among which were the Anti-Briton French privateer, mounting 22 long sixes, with a complement of 130 men; and la Victoire cutter, of 16 guns and 91 men. The former marauder was commanded by the notorious Kelly, a native of Rush, near Dublin, but holding a Lieutenant’s commission in the French marine: 120 of his crew were also subjects of Great Britain. The capture of that atrocious traitor was a service of very great importance to the merchants, as he had taken no less than one hundred and seventy prizes, most of which were either destroyed, or ransomed for large sums; the payments being secured by the detention of sufficient hostages, until the bills drawn in his favour were honored[3].
Mr. James continued in the Stag until she was paid off, 1783; when he joined the Griffin cutter, Lieutenant James Cooke, under whom he served for a period of three years. During the Spanish armament we find him master’s-mate of the Melampus frigate, Captain (now Sir Charles) Morice Pole;
- ↑ See Vol. I, Part I. note at p. 235, et seq.
- ↑ Superannuated Rear-Admiral R. P. Cooper died at Portsmouth, Oct. 23, 1805.
- ↑ Kelly was originally a smuggler. During the latter part of his life he worked as a common porter on the quay at Bourdeaux.
