# Royal Naval Biography/Anderson, James

Layout 2
JAMES ANDERSON, Esq. [Post-Captain of 1812.]
Is descended from the ancient and respectable family of Airderbreck, in Scotland. He was born in April, 1705; and educated for the clerical profession; but as that did not accord with the activity of his mind, he chose the navy in preference to the church ; and accordingly embarked as a midshipman on board the Royal George of 100 guns, bearing the flag of Sir John Lockhart Ross, in 1780. He also served in the same ship, under Rear-Admiral Kempenfelt, during the cruise in which la Pegase 74, l’Actionnaire 64, (armée ​en flûte), and eleven or twelve French transports, laden with provisions, military stores, arms, and ammunition, and having on board several hundred troops, were captured by a British squadron under Vice-Admiral Harrington. We afterwards find him in the Edgar 74, Commodore Hotham, at the relief of Gibraltar by Lord Howe; and he appears to have been struck on the breast by a splinter from that ship’s mainmast, in the subsequent skirmish with the enemies’ combined fleets, off Cape Spartel, Oct. 20, 1782.
After the termination of the American war, Mr. Anderson served for three years on board the Barracouta cutter, employed in the suppression of smuggling. He subsequently proceeded to the West Indies, where he commanded a small armed vessel during the remainder of the peace.
At the commencement of the French revolutionary war, Mr. Anderson was honored with the notice of Sir John Laforey, whose flag-ship, the Trusty 50, he piloted into the proper anchorage at the capture of Tobago, April 15, 1793. On the return of that officer to the West Indies, Mr. Anderson was induced to relinquish his colonial command, and again enter the navy as a midshipman. His promotion to the rank of Lieutenant took place subsequent to the reduction of St. Lucia, during the siege of which island he conducted himself extremely well in the command of an express-boat, under the orders of Sir Hugh C. Christian.
After eleven years’ service in the West Indies, Lieutenant Anderson returned to England with his health considerably impaired, and but little hopes of recovery. When convalescent, he was appointed to the signal-station at North Yarmouth, where he obtained the approbation of Lord Duncan, and other flag-officers employed on the North Sea station.
At the renewal of hostilities, 1803, Lieutenant Anderson joined the Atlas 74. From that ship he exchanged into the Africaine 38, the charge of which frigate, and of a large homeward bound West India fleet, devolved upon him in consequence of the illness of her captain, who was attacked by a most malignant fever, which carried off nearly one-third ​of her officers and crew. His commission as a Commander bears date Jan. 22, 1806.
In 1807, and the two following years, Captain Anderson was very actively employed as an agent for transports; in which capacity he conducted various bodies of troops to the island of Zealand, Gottenburgh, Portugal, and Walcheren: he also took 8000 of General Junot’s troops from Lisbon to France, agreeably to the convention of Cintra; and assisted in bringing home from Corunna the wreck of Sir John Moore’s army. The activity and zeal with which these services were performed called forth the particular approbation of H, R. H. the Duke of York, Viscount Castlereagh, and the Board of Ordnance, as will be seen by the following documents: –
“Horse Guards, May 9, 1808.
“Gentlemen,– I have the commander-in-chief’s commands to acquaint you that the conduct of Captain Anderson, agent for transports, has been reported so favorably during the embarkations at Harwich, that his Royal Highness thinks it due to that officer that the same should be made known to you.
(Signed)“R. Brownrigg, Quarter-Master-General.”
“To the Commissioners for the Transport Service.”
“Transport Office, Feb. 6, 1809.
“Sir,– I am directed by the Board to transmit herewith a copy of a letter from the Right Hon. Lord Castlereagh, signifying his lordship’s satisfaction and approbation of the manner in which the service of the re-embarkation of the army at Corunna was conducted by Commissioner Bowen, and the several agents and others employed under his direction; and I am to desire that you will communicate the same to the several agents who were under your charge.
(Signed)“Alexander M‘Leary.”
“To Captain Anderson.”
“Office of Ordnance, March 1, 1809.
“Sir,– The ordnance department having experienced very great attention and accommodation from the active exertions of Captain Anderson, R.N., in his situation of agent for transports at Corunna, and also from the essential service derived from his exertions during the re-embarkation of the heavy ordnance and stores on the expedition to Copenhagen; I have the Board’s command to request you will represent Captain Anderson’s attention and good conduct, during his employment on those services, to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, which the Board hope may ​induce their lordships to consider him in a favorable point of view when an opportunity offers.
(Signed)“R. H. Crew.”
“To the Hon. W. W. Pole, Admiralty.”
Captain Anderson’s next appointment was to the Rinaldo brig, mounting 8 eighteen-pounder carronades and 2 long sixes, with a complement of 65 officers, men, and boys. On the 7th Dec. 1809, he captured, after some little resistance, le Maraudeur French privateer, of 14 guns and 66 men, 6 of whom were wounded. In Dec. 1810, he fought a very gallant action with four other vessels of the same description, near the Owers light-vessel; and succeeded in sinking la Vieux Josephine of 16 guns and 80 men, only 3 of whom were saved: on this occasion, the top-sails and boom main-sail of the Rinaldo were completely riddled; but, although numerous musket-balls lodged among the hammocks, not a man was hurt.
In the ensuing spring. Captain Anderson was employed as senior officer between Calais and Boulogne, where he had several skirmishes with the enemy’s flotilla, several of which were driven on shore by the Rinaldo and her consorts. The share borne by him in a gallant affair off the latter place, Sep. 21, 1811, has been officially described at p. 74, et seq. of Supplement, Part I. He subsequently destroyed a privateer, near Etaples, under a heavy fire from the batteries, which did considerable damage to his sails and rigging. On the 1st Feb. 1812, the day on which he was advanced to post rank, his boats, commanded by Lieutenant Miller, effected the destruction of a gun-brig, lying aground near Calais. A few days previous thereto, he received a letter from his admiral, of which the following is a copy:
“Sir,– I have perused with much pleasure the contents of the several letters you gave me yesterday, and I congratulate you on having obtained the approbation of such distinguished officers for your conduct on so many important services: I am happy to add mine in testimony of your merits since you have been under my command.
(Signed)“Thomas Foley.
On the 10th Aug., 1814, Captain Anderson was appointed to the Zealous, 74; and early in the following month he sailed from Spithead, with orders to lay his ship up for the ​Winter at Quebec; to forward all her guns, masts, yards, sails, rigging, and stores to the lakes; and to place nearly the whole of her officers and crew at the disposal of Sir James Yeo, the senior naval officer in Canada. Finding it impossible to carry the first part of these orders into execution, he returned to Portsmouth in Dec. und there addressed the following letter to the secretary of the admiralty, explanatory of his conduct and motives:
“Sir,– Their lordships would be informed by my letter of the 30th Oct. of the impracticability of the Zealous wintering at Quebec, and that I wished for the benefit of Captain Hancock’s advice for my future proceedings. He arrived at the Brandy Potts on the 9th Nov. and I had not been many minutes on board the Liffey when I received a letter from Sir George Prevost, requesting that I would take transports with the 27th regiment under convoy to Halifax, whither he understood, as he said, the Zealous was to sail on the 15th. Although I had never expressed any design of going to Halifax at that late season of the year without a pilot, who could not be procured, I did uot hesitate, having the sanction of Captain Hancock’s approbation, to undertake seeing them in there, provided they arrived at the Brandy Potts so as to enable me to sail at the appointed day; which they could not fail to do with only common diligence, as the troops were embarked at Montreal on the 6th, and were to be at Quebec on the 9th. At the same time I acquainted Sir George, through the quarter-master-general’s department at Quebec, that the ship would be ready by the 12th, and might have been so much sooner, had it not been for the unaccountable delays in getting supplies from Quebec; but that notwithstanding the lateness of the season, I would wait till the 15th. In the mean time I forwarded from this ship, by different vessels, the ordnance stores mentioned in the enclosed list, to Sir James Yeo, and completed my water. Seeing no appearance of the transports with the 27th regiment, although the wind had been fair from the day of embarkation, I sent a telegraphic despatch on the 13th, stating that the ship was ready for sea, and waited only for the transports to sail. On the evening of the 14th a very strong N.W. wind set in, which, continuing during the night with great violence, gave me much apprehension for the safety of the ship, the winter having already set in with greater severity and much sooner than had been known for twenty years before. The pilot expressing his uneasiness if the ship continued longer, and the wind becoming more moderate on the morning of the 15th, I sailed at noon, with the wind at N.N.W. and got clear of the gulf of St. Lawrence on the 21st, after experiencing a very heavy gale from the N.E. with thick hazy weather, rain, sleet, and snow.
“Left thus to the exercise of my own discretion, I conceived it my duty, as there was a commander-in-chief on the station, to repair to Bermuda, ​and join Sir Alexander Cochrane; but having made little progress. In consequence of experiencing hard gales of wind, in which I split two maintop-sails (one not repairable); and on the morning of the 28th the wind coming to S.S.W. and increasing to a perfect storm; having only a fore-topsail bent for a main one; the other sails much worn; no spare topmast on board in case of accident; an old fore-top-mast, sprung in two places, for a main one; no rope to reeve for lifts, braces, &c. and those now in use several times spliced and unfit to be trusted, from the almost constant gales the ship had been in ever since she left England; and the carpenter reporting that the ship was very weak and complained much forward, making at the rate of from 8 to 12 feet water in the 24 hours; I called the officers together to consult on the propriety of contending longer against contrary gales of wind in the state the ship was in, and their unanimous opinion was, that it would be unsafe to contend farther, and that it would be most proper to bear up for a port in England, while there was yet a prospect of doing it with any probability of success: I accordingly bore up under a reefed fore-sail in a heavy gale of wind, with a high sea, which continued, with more or less violence, ever since; and having brought the ship nearly 800 leagues in a constant gale, I have the honor of acquainting you, for their lordships’ information, with her arrival in this port almost a complete wreck.
(Signed)“James Anderson.”
“To J. W. Croker, Esq.”
In Jan. 1815, Captain Anderson was tried by a court.martial, for neglect of duty, in not communicating with Sir James L. Yeo; for disobedience of orders, in not wintering at Quebec; and for not remaining at the Brandy Potts till the arrival of the transports from Montreal. The following is a copy of the sentence:
“That it was not practicable for the said Captain Anderson to have proceeded at that advanced season of the year from the Brandy Potts, in the river St. Lawrence, to Quebec, in H.M. said ship Zealous, without an unjustifiable risk of the safety of the ship; that he communicated with Commodore Sir James L. Yeo, both by telegraph and letter, as soon as he had an opportunity of so doing; and that, from the information he obtained from the most competent sources, and the repeated urgent representations of the pilot, he was fully justified in returning down the St. Lawrence at the time he did so, without longer waiting for the transports with the first battalion of the 27th regiment; and the court doth therefore adjudge the said Captain Anderson to be acquitted, and he is hereby acquitted accordingly.”
On returning Captain Anderson his sword, the president complimented him in very flattering terms, as did all the ​other members of the court. The Zealous was immediately afterwards put out of commission, she being no longer fit for service.
During the naval administrations of Lord Mulgrave and the Right Hon. Charles Yorke, Captain Anderson presented the Admiralty with plans for the preservation of the health of seamen in the West Indies, and for the checking of smuggling in the narrow seas. He has also written several pieces, principally relating to the navy; but the only production in print which bears his name is entitled “Observations on the Peculiarities of the Tides between Fairleigh and the North Foreland.” – This latter paper is inserted in the Transactions of the Royal Society for the year 1819.
Captain Anderson married, in Sept. 1790, Jane Ann Thornhill, daughter of the Rev. Thomas Harris, M.A. Rector of St. Lucy’s parish in the island of Barbadoes.
Agent.– Messrs. Goode and Clarke.
* ↑ See Vol. I. Part I. p. 16.
* ↑ Vol. I. Part I. p. 171 and Vol. II. Part I, note † at p. 42.
* ↑ See Vol. II. Part I. p. 210.