[ 257 ] 

 THE 



LIFE OF SIR WILLIAM JAMES, Baronet; 



COMMUNICATED BY LADY JAMES. 



OiR William James embarked in a fealife at twelve years of 

 age. He was more than twenty years at fea before he got the 

 command of a lliip. He was with ?>\.i Edward Hawke in the 

 Wejl Indies, in 1738, as a junior officer. Some years after, he 

 commanded a fhip in the Virginia trade ; in her he was taken 

 by the Spaniards, in the Gulph of Florida, and carried a pri- 

 foner to the Havannah. His fufFerings after his captivity will 

 be related hereafter: — In the beginning of 1747? he went to 

 the Eaji Indies as chief officer of one of the Eaji India Com- 

 pany's fliips, and performed two voyages in that ftation. In 

 1749, the EaJi India Company appointed him to the command 

 of a new fhip called the Guardian, equipped as a fliip of war ; 

 in her he failed to Bombay, to protedt the trade on the Malabar 

 coafl-, which was much annoyed by the depredations of Angria^ 

 and other pirates, with which thofe feas fwarmed. 



During two years he was conftantly employed in convoying 

 the merchant fliips from Bombay and Surat, to the Red Sea, the 

 Gulph of Perjia, and up and down the Malabar coaft, from the 

 Gulph oiCambay to Cape Comorin. He was frequently attacked 

 on this fervice by the different piratical flates. At one time, 

 when he had near feventy fail of fliips and vefTels under his 

 charge, he was alTailed by a large fleet of Angria\ frigates and 



Vol. I. L 1 gallivats, 



