# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Vashon, James

​VASHON, JAMES (1742–1827), admiral, son of James Volant Vashon, vicar of Eye in Herefordshire and lecturer of Lud​low, was born at Ludlow on 9 Aug. 1742. He entered the navy in August 1755 on board the Revenge, with Captain Frederick Cornewall, a man of local property and influence [see under Cornewall, James, and Cornewal, Folliott Herbert Walker]. In the Revenge Vashon was present at the battle of Minorca on 20 May 1756, and on Cornewall being sent to England as a witness on the trial of Admiral John Byng [q. v.], he was moved into the Lancaster, with Captain George Edgcumbe (afterwards Earl of Mount-Edgcumbe) [q. v.], and took part in the reduction of Louisbourg in July 1758. The Lancaster went to the West Indies, as part of the force under Commodore John Moore (1718–1779) [q. v.] in the reduction of Guadeloupe. Vashon was then moved into the Cambridge, Moore's flagship, and continued in her, under Captain Goostrey and Rear-admiral Charles Holmes [q. v.], at Jamaica. While there he was frequently lent to the Boreas, a cruising frigate, and in her saw some sharp boat service, in cutting out the enemy's privateers. Holmes died in November 1761, and on 1 July 1762 Goostrey was killed in the attack on the Morro Castle at Havana. In the summer of 1761 Goostrey is said to have asked Holmes to make Vashon a lieutenant. Holmes demurred, saying he looked such a boy, but he would make him one by and by. The death of Holmes and Goostrey deprived him of this patronage, and though he passed his examination on 7 Sept. 1763, and continued serving without interruption on the Newfoundland station and the West Indies, he was not promoted till 1 June 1774, when Sir George Rodney made him a lieutenant of the Maidstone. In 1777 the Maidstone returned to England, and, after refitting, was sent out to the coast of North America, under the command of Captain Alan (afterwards Lord) Gardner [q. v.], and employed during the early months of 1778 in active cruising. In March Vashon commanded the boats in setting fire to a ship which they had driven on shore, where she was defended by several field-pieces. In July he was sent up to Lord Howe at New York with news of the French fleet; and, having rejoined the Maidstone, assisted in capturing the Lion, a large armed ship. Vashon, with four-and-twenty men, was put on board her, but the boisterous weather prevented further communication, and the situation of the prize crew with some two hundred prisoners was very critical. The ship, too, was in a sinking condition, but Vashon succeeded in keeping the Frenchmen at the pumps, and so bringing his charge safely to Antigua.
For this service Vashon was promoted to the rank of commander on 5 Aug. 1779, ordered home, and appointed to the Alert, in which he was again sent to the West Indies. Early in 1781 he was sent home with despatches from Jamaica, was for some time attached to the fleet in the North Sea under Sir Hyde Parker, and in December went out to the West Indies with Rodney, where the Alert was stationed off Martinique as a look-out ship; he was with the fleet in the action off Dominica on 12 April 1782, when he took possession of the Glorieuse; was active in saving the people blown up in the César, and was posted to the Prince William by a commission dated the same day. He was afterwards appointed by Rodney to the Formidable, as flag-captain; and, on Rodney's being superseded, was moved into the Sibyl, which he commanded till the peace. From 1786 to 1789 he was captain of the Europa, with Commodore Gardner's broad pennant on board; in the Spanish armament of 1790 commanded the Ardent, and in 1793 was appointed to the St. Albans, employed on convoy service to the Mediterranean and to Jamaica. He afterwards commanded the Pompée in the Channel fleet off Brest, and during the mutiny at Spithead. When the fleet had returned to its duty, a new and dangerous outbreak occurred in the Pompée, and, though this was promptly quelled and the ringleaders tried by court-martial and sentenced to death, Vashon applied to be relieved from the command. He commanded in turn the Neptune, the Dreadnought (1801–1802), and the Princess Royal from 1803 till his promotion to the rank of rear-admiral on 23 April 1804. He then, for four years, commanded the ships at Leith and on the coast of Scotland; was made a vice-admiral on 28 April 1808, and admiral on 4 June 1814. He died at Ludlow on 20 Oct. 1827. He left one son, in holy orders.
J. K. L.