T A M E S. 
GS! 
and obliged the reft to feek for fafety in Gheriah and Se- 
verndroog. 
About the beginning of the year 1751, fir William was 
appointed commander-in-chief of the Eaft-India Com¬ 
pany’s marine forces, and hoifted his broad pendant on¬ 
board the Protector, a fine fhip of forty-four guns. On 
April 2d, 1755, he wets lent with the Protestor, Guardian, 
Bombay grab, and Drake bomb, with fome gallivats, to 
attempt fuch of the ports belonging to Angria as lie 
to the northward of Gheriah, his principal fortrefs, and 
capital. The chief of thefe fortreffes was Severndrocg, 
where Angria’s vefl'els refitted and took fhelte’r when they 
could not reach Gheriah. It was well defended by bat¬ 
teries along the fhore, and the entrance of the harbour 
was fecured by a ftrong caftle, on which were mounted 
feventy pieces of cannon. Angria’s people confidcred Se- 
verndroog as their ftrongeft hold next to Gheriah. Sir 
William, having reconnoitred the place, and informed 
himfelf of its ltrength, brought his fhips with a leading 
wind clofe to the caftle-walls, and by a fteady well-di¬ 
rected fire (vvhilft the Drake threw in her bombs) focn 
brought on a parley, and in lefs than three hours the go¬ 
vernor furrendered the caftle, and the veffels in the har¬ 
bour ; from hence fir William went to Fort Victoria, 
which quickly followed the fate of Severndroog; and the 
next day four other forts were numbered in his conquefts. 
Sir William was next fent with his little fquadron to 
attack Gheriah, a place reprefented £0 be almoft impreg¬ 
nable from the fea. The fquadron formed off Gheriah 
the 10th February, 1756. Sir William, in the Protestor, 
led to the attack in one divifion, vvhilft another divifion 
of frigates led the bomb-ketches in another line; a heavy 
and tremendous fire began on our part from the fhiph of 
the line, whilft the.(hells were thrown with great fticcefs 
from the bombs into the harbour, where all Angria’s 
fhips were bawled for fafety ; thefe were foon let on fire 
by the bombs; the fire from the caftle and batteries (bon 
flackened, and before the evening let in the. caftle fur- 
rendered, and Gheriah, arrd all its dependencies, fell into 
• our hands. Thus fhortly ended an enterprife, which, 
for many years, had been in contemplation by the Euro¬ 
pean governments in India, but which was never before 
attempted, from an idea that no force fufficient cOuld be 
brought againft the walls of this caftle. Lord Clive, at 
this time a lieutenant-colonel, commanded the land-forces. 
Sir William James, in an eminent manner, difpl-ayed 
his nautical abilities, by fhowing that, in defpite of a 
contrary monfoon, a communication between Bombay and 
■the Coromandel coaft may be effected in cafes of exi¬ 
gency. This padage was attempted by fir William in the 
firft inftance, and he accomplifhed it in nearly as fhort a 
time as it ufually was done in the favourable monfoon. 
It was of the utmoft moment that he fucceeded at the 
time he did, for by it, he confirmed to admiral Watfon 
(then in the Ganges) the intelligence of the war with 
France, and brought to his affiftance five-hundred troops, 
by which the admiral and colonel Clive were enabled, in 
March 1757, to take Chandernagore, the chief of the 
French fettlements in Bengal. In effecting this pnfihge, 
the commodore crofted the equator in the meridian ofBom- 
bay, and continued his courfe to the fouthward as far as 
the tenth degree, and then was enabled to go as far to 
the eaftward as the meridian of Atcheen-head, the north- 
weft extremity of Sumatra, from whence, with the north- 
eaft monfoon, which then prevailed in the bay of Ben¬ 
gal, he, could with eafe gain the entrance of the Ganges, 
or any port on the Coromandel coaft. 
In the year 1759, William returned to his native 
country. The Eaft-India Company prefented him with an 
elegant gold-hilted (word, with a complimentary motto, 
exprefiive of their fenfe of his gallant fervices. Soon af¬ 
terwards he was chofen a director, and continued a mem¬ 
ber of that refpecfahle body more than twenty years ; in 
which time lie had filled both thechairs. He was fifteen years 
deputy-mailer of the corporation of the Trinity-lioiifg j 
VOL. X. No. 701. 
a governor of Greenwich-hofpital; ferved two fefilons in 
parliament for Weft Lo.oe; and on the 25th of July, 1778, 
was created a baronet. He planned the reduction of 
Pondicherry during the American war, and. received a 
rich feVvice of ( plate from the India company, as a tefti- 
mony of their fenfe of his fkiil and judgment in that af¬ 
fair. He died on the 16th- December, 1783, aged 62. It 
is faid by a period who knew him intimately near thirty 
years, and was well acquainted with his prbfefiional abi¬ 
lities, that as a thorough praCHcal fearaan, he whs almoft 
without an equal; as an officer, be was brave, vigilant, 
prompt, and refolute ; patient in difficult)', with a pre¬ 
fence of mind that feemed to grow from danger. Pennant's 
View of liindoojlan, vol. i. 
JAMES’s, (St.) a town of Maryland, fituated in Kent 
county, four, miles foutn-wefterly of the town of Chefter. 
JANIES, (Great and Little, St.) two of the final-' 
ler Virgin Hies, fituated in the King’s Channel, eaft of 
Tortilla, and weft of St. Thomas, between which and them 
is St. James’s Paflage. 
JAMES’s BAY -lies at the bottom or moft fouthern part 
of Hudfon’s Bay, with which it communicates, and di¬ 
vides New Britain from South Wales. It contains feveral 
iflands, among which are Bear, Viners, Charleton, and 
Agomifca, i(lands. Michipicaton river, which falls into 
Lake Superior, has its fource towards this bay, from 
whence there is faid to be but a fhort portage to Moofe ri¬ 
ver, which falls into James’s Bay. 
JAMES, (Cape St.) is the fouthernmoft extremity of 
Wafhington isles, on the north-weft coaft of North 
America. 
JAMES CITY, a county of Virginia, tan miles long and 
twelve broad, lying between Chickahominy and James’s 
rivers. It contains 4070 inhabitants, including 2405 
Haves. 
JAMES CREEK, in Delaware, which empties into De¬ 
laware Bay, eleven miles below Hook Ifland. Dover, the 
feat of government, Hands 011 this creek, five miles from 
its mouth. 
JAMES FORT, on the north fide of Loblollo Bay, in 
the ifland of Antigua, in the head of which is St. John’s 
harbour. 
JAMES DARTMOUTH FORT, a fortrefs at the con¬ 
fluence of Broad with Savannah river. It was erefted un¬ 
der the Britifh government, and defigned as a defence of 
a commercial and political intercourfe with the Indians. 
JAMES ISLAND, lies on the fouth fide of Charleftowri 
.harbour, in South Carolina, oppofite to Charleftown, and 
contains about fifty families. It is feparated from John’s 
Ifland on the weftward by Stono river. 
JAMES ISLAND, an ifland of Africa, about thirty miles 
up the rivet Gajibia, where the Englifh have a fort and 
fa (lory. 
JAMES RIVER, a navigable river of Virginia, called 
anciently Powhatan by the Indians, affords harbour for 
veffels of any fize in Hampton Road, but not in fafety 
through the whole winter; and there is navigable water 
for them as far as Mulberry Ifland. A forty-gun fliip goes 
to Jameftown, and, lightening-herfl-lf, may pafs to Har- 
rifon’s Bar, on which there is only fifteen feet wafer. 
Veffels of 250 tons may go to Warwick ; thofe of 125 go¬ 
to Rocket’s, a mile below Richmond ; from thence is about 
feven feet water to Richmond ; and about the centre of 
the town 4J feet, where the navigation is interrupted by 
falls, which, in a courfe of fix miles, defeend about eighty- 
feet perpendicular. A canal is nearly or quite completed 
for the palfing of boats by thefe falls. Above thefe the 
river is navigable for batteaux and'canoes to within ten 
mires of the Blue Ridge, and even through the Blue Ridg-e 
a ton weight has been brought; and the expence would not 
be great, when compared' with its obje&s, to open a to¬ 
lerable navigation up Jackfon’s River 'and Carpenter’s 
Creek, to within twenty-five miles of' Howard’s Creek of 
Greeb Briar,, both of which have then water enough to 
float vefl'els into the Great Kanhaway. In fome future 
8 E itatG 
