A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Irwin, James
IRWIN. (Lieutenant, 1827. f-p., 19; h-p., 16.)
James Irwin is son of Commander Jas. Irwin, R.N. (1802), who was a Midshipman of the Royal George when that ship went down at Spithead in 1782, was afterwards Flag-Lieutenant to Hon. Wm. Cornwallis, distinguished himself in 1807, as Agent for Transports before Buenos Ayres, and died in 1825. He is nephew of Capt. John Irwin who commanded the Prince George 98, as Flag-Captain to Rear-Admiral Wm. Parker, in the action off Cape St. Vincent 14 Feb. 1797; and cousin of Capt. Geo. Wickens Willes, R.N., now commanding the Vanguard 80, and of Capt. Jas. Irwin Willes, R.M.
This officer entered the Navy, 13 Aug. 1812, as a Volunteer, on board the Achille 74, Capt. Aiskew Paffard Hollis; became Midshipman, in April, 1813, of the Milford 74, bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral Thos. Fras. Fremantle; and from May, 1814, until March, 1818, served with Capt. Fras. Stanfell in the Bacchante, Madagascar, and Phaeton frigates. While attached to the Milford (he had been employed in the Achille at the blockade of Venice) he commanded a 10-oared cutter at the reduction of the towns of Fiumé, Bocca Rea, &c., assisted at the capture of the fort of Ragosniza, took part in a successful engagement with a battery in the neighbourhood of Capo d’Istria, and served in the batteries at the siege of Trieste. When on the American station, in the Bacchante, we find him present at the blockade of the American frigates Constitution and Congress, the capture of the towns of Castine and Belfast in Penobscot Bay, and the taking of Machias. In Aug. 1818, Mr. Irwin, who had passed his examination in the previous March, and had been since borne on the books of the Queen Charlotte 100, flag-ship at Portsmouth of Sir Geo. Campbell, obtained a Mateship in the Rochfort 80, bearing the successive flags of Sir T. F. Fremantle and Sir Graham Moore, on the Mediterranean station; where he commanded from March, 1823, to Aug. 1825, the Racer tender; and where, until the summer of 1829, he further served (with but two slight interruptions in 1826 and again in 1827) on board the Revenge 76, flag-ship of Sir Harry Burrard Neale, Isis 50, Capt. Sir Thos. Staines, and, as Lieutenant (commission dated 31 Dec. 1827) in the Philomel 10, Capts. Hon. Wm. Keith and Edw. Hawes. During his servitude in the Rochfort he had the misfortune to receive a compound fracture of the right leg; and while in command of the Racer he endured a brush with several Algerine gun-boats. His last appointment was, 11 Oct. 1834, to the Coast Guard, in which service he remained until the autumn of 1836.