Wallace, Sir James

WALLACE, SIR JAMES. (1731–1803). British naval officer. Wallace entered the Royal Naval Academy at Portsmouth in 1746. He fought in the Seven Years' War and was promoted post-captain on 10 January 1771. In November he was given the frigate Rose (twenty guns), which he took to North America in 1774. Based at Newport in 1775–1776, he vigorously conducted raids on rebel-held coastal towns and harbors. In July 1776 he was given Experiment (fifty guns), and in January 1777 carried despatches home to Britain, where he was knighted on 13 February. In July he returned to the North American station and in October took part in Henry Clinton's expedition to the Highlands, pushing on with John Vaughan to Kingston and beyond. In 1778 Experiment took part in the relief of Newport and in August evaded capture by sailing into Long Island Sound and through Hell Gate, a passage previously thought impossible for a two-decker. In December she was severely damaged by a storm off Virginia, and Wallace took her home for repairs. Sailing with Marriot Arbuthnot's squadron in May 1779, he took part in the relief of Jersey in the English Channel and destroyed the French squadron in Cancale Bay in northwest France. Rejoining Arbuthnot in Torbay in southwest England, he returned with him to New York. Sent south with pay for the troops in Georgia, in September 1779 he ran into part of comte d'Estaing's squadron and was captured. Acquitted at the ensuing court martial, he took command of Nonsuch (sixty-four guns) in March 1780, and in July captured the corvette Hussard and the frigate Belle Poule. In 1781 he took part in George Darby's relief of Gibraltar and on the return voyage engaged and severely damaged an eighty-gun ship. In January 1782 he sailed in the Warrior (seventy-four guns) with George Rodney to the West Indies, where he took part in the battle of the Saints. He returned to Britain in 1783 and served as commander in chief in Newfoundland from 1793 to 1796.

SEE ALSO Arbuthnot, Marriot; Clinton's Expedition; Kingston, New York.

                          revised by John Oliphant