Page:A Naval Biographical Dictionary.djvu/1134

1120 When the 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. 

entered the Navy, 8 March, 1804, as Ordinary, on board the 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 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 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  10 and  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 98, flag-ship of Sir John Thos. Duckworth, and 50, he was presented with a commission dated 7 Sept. .in that year. In the 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 for Transports afloat. – Messrs. Stilwell.

 STIRLING. 

entered the Navy, 17 July, 1790, as A.B., on board the, Capt. Lord Cranstoun; joined next, in Sept. and Nov. 1791, the 74, Capt. Thos. Pasley, and 28, Capt. Hon. Alex. Cochrane; was again, from Feb. 1793 until Jan. 1796, employed with Lord Cranstoun in the 64 and  74; and after serving for nine months in the  74, flag-ship of Lord Duncan, was made Lieutenant, 14 Oct. 1796, into  16, Capt. Jas. Boorder. He cruized next, for about two years, from 1797 to 1799, in the 40, Capt. Sir Thos. Williams; and for a short time in 1801 he was employed in the 54. While attached to the 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. – Frederick Dufaur.

 STIRLING. 

passed his examination 10 April, 1848; obtained his commission 29 May following; and is now serving with Sir Chas. Napier in the 120.

 STIRLING, Kt. 

, 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.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, , , and sloops, distinguished himself on a variety of occasions. In the 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  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 20,  32,  38, and  74. The formed part of Sir John Borlase Warren’s expedition to Quiberon in 1795; she was in company, 21 April, 1798, with the  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 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 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 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.

This officer entered the Navy, 12 Aug. 1803, aa Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the store-ship, Capt. John Ayscough, fitting for the West Indies, where he became Midshipman of the  74, bearing the flag of Sir John Thos. Duckworth, and 98, Capt. Geo. Losack. Joining next the 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 64’s. On his return to England, after witnessing the fall of Monte Video, he was received, about April, 1808, on board the 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 120 and  38, both commanded, on Home service, by Capt. Rich. Dalling Dunn; became, in Nov. 1811, Flag-Lieutenant, in the 38, to Admiral Stirling, on the Jamaica station; was there, 27 Feb. 1812, placed in acting command of the  18; and on 19 June in the same year was confirmed a Commander in the  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 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 38, owing to the death of her Captain; but returning soon to the, 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