When the Superb was fitting out at Plymouth, Commander Stewart jumped overboard, an ebb-tide running at the time, and, nearly at the cost of his own life, saved that of a marine. For this humane and intrepid act he received the thanks of the Royal Humane Society on vellum.
STILL. (Lieut., 1815. f-p., 16; h-p., 27.)
William Stillentered the Navy, 8 March, 1804, as Ordinary, on board the Queen 98, Capts. Theophilus Jones, Dickson, Fras. Pender, Rich. Thomas, Wm. Shield, Chas. Inglis, and Thos. Geo. Shortland, in which ship he continued employed, off Cadiz and in various parts of the Mediterranean, under the flag of Admirals John Knight, Lord Collingwood, and Geo. Martin, until transferred, in Oct. 180S, to the Lyra 10, Capts. Wm. Bevians, Southey, and Robt. Bloye; under the first-mentioned of whom we find him, in April, 1809, present as Midshipman in Lord Cochrane’s famous attack upon the French shipping in Aix Roads. In May, 1810, he removed to the Daring gun-brig, Lieut.-Commander Campbell, stationed in the Bay of Biscay and Baltic; he served next, from Jan. 1811 until Aug. 1815, on the coast of France and South America, in the Rinaldo 10 and Fly 16, Capts. Anderson, Sir Wm. Geo. Parker, and Baldwin; and in Oct. 1815, after he had been for nearly two months attached at Plymouth to the St. George 98, flag-ship of Sir John Thos. Duckworth, and Jupiter 50, he was presented with a commission dated 7 Sept. .in that year. In the Rinaldo he assisted at the capture, 4 May, 1812, of the Apelles brig-of-war, under the fire of a battery near Boulogne. With the exception of a few months in 1847, he has been employed, since 21 Jan. 1843, as an Agent for Transports afloat. Agents – Messrs. Stilwell.
STIRLING. (Retired Commander, 1838. f-p., 10; h-p., 47.)
Alexander Garthshore Stirling entered the Navy, 17 July, 1790, as A.B., on board the Assistance, Capt. Lord Cranstoun; joined next, in Sept. and Nov. 1791, the Vengeance 74, Capt. Thos. Pasley, and Hind 28, Capt. Hon. Alex. Cochrane; was again, from Feb. 1793 until Jan. 1796, employed with Lord Cranstoun in the Raisonnable 64 and Bellerophon 74; and after serving for nine months in the Venerable 74, flag-ship of Lord Duncan, was made Lieutenant, 14 Oct. 1796, into L’Espiègle 16, Capt. Jas. Boorder. He cruized next, for about two years, from 1797 to 1799, in the Endymion 40, Capt. Sir Thos. Williams; and for a short time in 1801 he was employed in the Berschermer 54. While attached to the Bellerophon he was present in Admiral Hon. Wm. Cornwallis’ celebrated retreat 16 and 17 June, 1795. In all the ships above mentioned he served on the Home station. He was placed on the Junior list of Retired Commanders 26 Nov. 1830; and on the Senior 1 Feb. 1838. Agent – Frederick Dufaur.
STIRLING. (Lieutenant, 1848.)
Frederick Henry Stirling passed his examination 10 April, 1848; obtained his commission 29 May following; and is now serving with Sir Chas. Napier in the St. Vincent 120.
STIRLING, Kt. (Capt., 1818. f-p., 21; h-p., 23.)
Sir James Stirling, born in 1791, is fifth son of the late Andrew Stirling, Esq., of Drumpellier, by Anne, daughter of Sir Walter Stirling, Kt., Captain R.N., and sister of the late Sir Walter Stirling, Bart., and the late Vice-Admiral Chas. Stirling.[1]
This officer entered the Navy, 12 Aug. 1803, aa Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Camel store-ship, Capt. John Ayscough, fitting for the West Indies, where he became Midshipman of the Hercule 74, bearing the flag of Sir John Thos. Duckworth, and Prince George 98, Capt. Geo. Losack. Joining next the Glory 98, he fought in that ship in Sir Robt. Calder’s action under the flag of Rear-Admiral Chas. Stirling, whom he followed into the Sampson and Diadem 64’s. On his return to England, after witnessing the fall of Monte Video, he was received, about April, 1808, on board the Warspite 74, Capt. Hon. Henry Blackwood, stationed at first in the North Sea and Channel, and then in the Mediterranean. He obtained his first commission 12 Aug. 1809; was appointed, 1 April and 27 Oct. 1810, to the Hibernia 120 and Armide 38, both commanded, on Home service, by Capt. Rich. Dalling Dunn; became, in Nov. 1811, Flag-Lieutenant, in the Arethusa 38, to Admiral Stirling, on the Jamaica station; was there, 27 Feb. 1812, placed in acting command of the Moselle 18; and on 19 June in the same year was confirmed a Commander in the Brazen sloop, mounting 28 guns. At the commencement of the war with America we find him cruizing for four months off the Mississippi, where he succeeded in destroying a considerable amount of the enemy’s property. Although the Brazen was on one occasion dismasted in a hurricane, he maintained his station by cutting and framing masts and spars from the neighbouring forests at Pensacola. In 1813 he was sent to Hudson’s Bay for the purpose of affording protection to the settlements and shipping in that quarter; and in the winter of the same year he was ordered on special service to the coast of Holland with H.S.H. the reigning Duke of Brunswick. After cruizing on the coast of Ireland he again sailed for the Gulf of Mexico. On the conclusion of hostilities he was nominated Acting-Captain of the Cydnus 38, owing to the death of her Captain; but returning soon to the Brazen, and being re-appointed to her on the peace establishment, he continued to serve in that vessel in the West Indies until paid off in Aug. 1818. “I cannot,” writes the Commander-in-Chief in a letter addressed to the Admiralty on the eve of the Brazen’s departure, “permit Capt. Stirling to quit this station without expressing to their Lordships my entire satisfaction with his conduct while under my command. The zeal and alacrity he always displayed in the execution of whatever service he was employed upon are above my praise; but it is to his acquaintance with foreign languages, his thorough knowledge of the station, particularly the
- ↑ Vice-Admiral Chas. Stirling, was born 28 April, 1760. He was made a Lieutenant, on his return to England from the East Indies, where he had been serving with Sir Edw. Hughes, 12 June, 1778; was promoted to the rank of Commander, after the capture of Charlestown, in May, 1780; and while employed in that capacity in the Avenger, Vulture, Savage, and Termagant sloops, distinguished himself on a variety of occasions. In the Savage of 14 guns and 125 men he was wounded and taken, after a most noble resistance, by the Congress American privateer of 20 guns and 125 men; and in the Termagant he displayed such exemplary conduct that he was promoted, at the recommendation of Lord Howe, to Post-rank 15 Jan. 1783. He subsequently commanded the Unicorn 20, Venus 32, Jason 38, and Pompée 74. The Jason formed part of Sir John Borlase Warren’s expedition to Quiberon in 1795; she was in company, 21 April, 1798, with the Mars 74 at the surrender of the Hercule 74; in the following June she assisted at the capture of the French 40- gun frigate La Seine; and on 13 Oct. in the same year she was wrecked near Brest, and her officers and crew taken prisoners. In the Pompée Capt. Stirling figured in a very prominent manner in Sir Jas. Saumarez’ action with M. de Linois off Algeciras 6 July, 1801. At the peace of Amiens he was appointed Commissioner of the Navy at Jamaica; and in 1805 he solicited and obtained the rank of Rear-Admiral, with seniority from 23 April, 1804. On 22 July, 1805, with his flag in the Glory 98, he shared, as second in command, in Sir Robt. Calder’s action with the combined fleets of France and Spain off Cape Finisterre. Being sent, in the autumn of 1806, to the Rio de la Plata to supersede Sir Home Popham, he commanded, with his flag in the Diadem 64, the naval force, in conjunction with the troops under Sir Sam. Auchmuty, at the reduction of Monte Video in Feb. 1807. He afterwards proceeded to the Cape of Good Hope, whence, in 1808, he returned to England. In July, 1810, ne was promoted to the rank of Vice-Admiral; in the following month he was presented with the freedom of the city of London; and in Oct. 1811 he was appointed to the chief command at Jamaica. In 1812, the latter and the North American station becoming amalgamated, and the chief command being given to Sir J. B. Warren. Vice-Admiral Stirling was rendered in consequence the second in authority. He returned to England in June, 1813; and died, 7 Nov. 1833, at Chertsey.
