James Fitzjames

James Fitzjames in 1845

**James Fitzjames** was the captain on *HMS Erebus* and third in command (Later second in command) of the Franklin expedition.

## Early Life

James Fitzjames was born on the 27th of July 1813 in London. He was the illegitimate son of Sir James Gambier and an unknown mother (possibly Hester Coningham). He was taken in by his presumed aunt and uncle Louisa and Robert Coningham and stayed with them at their homes in Hertfordshire.

## Naval Career

On August 25, 1825, when he was 12, Fitzjames joined the Royal Navy as a first class volunteer on the *HMS Pyramus*. The ship's Captain was his relative Captain Robert Gambier, who was later replaced by Captain George Rose Sartorius. The *Pyramus* conducted many conveys to Lisbon, Gibraltar, and Malta. On September 30, 1828, Fitzjames left the *Pyramus.*

In December 1830, Fitzjames secured a position on the *HMS St Vincent*. During this time, Fitzjames on the *St. Vincent* witnessed the Greek War of Independence, and the occupation of Palamidi fortress in Nafplio by British, French and Russian forces. For a brief period between August 1832 and July 1833, Fitzjames served on the *HMS Madagascar.* During this time, the *Madagascar* escorted the new King of Greece, King Otto from Bavaria to Greece. He returned to the *St. Vincent* after this had been completed. Fitzjames passed his officer's examination on November 16, 1833.

In June, 1834, Fitzjames became an officer on the *HMS Winchester.* From October 1834 to March 1837, Fitzjames served as a mate on the *HMS Euphrates* during Col. Francis Chesney's Euphrates expedition. On February 1st 1835, the Euphrates had stopped in Liverpool to pick up supplies when a tidewaiter named James Dickenson fell overboard and into the Mersey river. Quickly, Fitzjames lept into the river after him and pulled Dickenson to saftety. Fitzjames was given a silver cup for his gallant action that day. During the expedition, Fitzjames broke his leg, and was to taken prisoner by local Bedouin Arabs, but was released after 10 days. For his efforts, on January 19, 1838, Fitzjames was promoted to Lieutenant on *HMS Excellent*. On October 17, 1838, Fitzjames was transferred to the *HMS Ganges.* Throughout 1840, Fitzjames on the *Ganges* took part in the Egyptian-Ottoman War. On one occasion, Fitzjames led an amphibious landing at night in the city of Beirut to deliver proclamations of Sir Charles Napier to the Egyptian soldiers. His exploits were so well known that the Egyptian general, Ibrahim Pasha, placed a bounty on Fitzjames' head. After briefly serving a stint on the *Excellent*, on May 27, 1841, Admiral Sir William Parker personally selected Fitzjames as an officer on his ship, the *HMS Cornwallis* for service in the Opium War.

## Opium War

During the war, Fitzjames led the fire rocket brigades on Chinese forts at Tzeki, Segoan on the 15th, and 16th of March 1842, leading the rocket brigades to capture Zhapu in May, and serving on shore during the Battle of Zhapu in June. On July 21, 1842, Fitzjames was leading the rocket brigades again, this time during the battle of Zhenjiang. During this time, Fitzjames was shot by a Chinese sniper and was wounded by a musket ball that went through his arm and into his back, before stopping close to his spine. He was then evacuated to the *Cornwallis*, where he likely had the musket ball removed by the Surgeon, Stephen Stanley. While recovering from his wounds, Fitzjames was aboard the *Cornwallis* when the Treaty of Nanking was signed on August 29, 1842. Contrary to popular belief, Fitzjames does not appear in John Platt's painting of the treaty signing as has been erroneously reported.

Not long after the war's end, Fitzjames, under the pen name, "Tom Bowline", published a 10,000 word poem entitled, "The Cruise of HMS Cornwallis".

## Later Naval Career

On December 21, 1842, Fitzjames received a promotion to Commander, and on the 30th, was transferred to the *HMS Cilo.* During this time, he visited the cities of Basra, Iraq, and Khorrambad, Iran. The reason he was sent to these regions was to help quell the rebellions of sailors of merchant ships. Fitzjames returned to England on October 10, 1844.

## Franklin Expedition

On March 4, 1845, Fitzjames signed on to the Franklin expedition as captain of *HMS Erebus**,* and third-in-command of the expedition. When the expedition stopped in Greenland to send back letters and unneeded items, Fitzjames sent back several entries of his diary where he talked about the events that had happened recently.

During the expedition's stay on Beechey Island, Fitzjames made a series of mathematical calculations on some paper that was recovered by the search expeditions. Later, Fitzjames was responsible for writing the details on the Victory and Gore point notes. He also published the famous addendum to the Victory Point note. (Curiously, Fitzjames states that the expedition stayed at Beechey from 1846-1847 rather than 1845-1846. Some have pointed out that this is a possible sign of lead poisoning.) What happened to him after April 1848, is currently unknown.

## Artifact Discovery

One item that John Rae was given by the Repulse Bay Inuit was a fork that belonged to Fitzjames.

## Gallery

A slightly different Daguerreotype of FitzjamesOne of Fitzjames' forks (Top) along with one of Sir John's (Bottom)The silver cup Fitzjames recieved for saving James DickensonA silhouette portrait of Fitzjames (right) from 1829 [1]A drawing of Fitzjames with a beard and wearing Middle Eastern clothes from mid 1835 [2]A drawing of Fitzjames from 1839A portrait plaque of FitzjamesA colorized sketch done by Fitzjames of a cemetery in Aleppo, SyriaA sketch made by Fitzjames showing the *Erebus* and *Terror* at anchor in the Whale Fish Islands