A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Lean, James Sedgwick
LEAN. (Lieutenant, 1810. f-p., 18; h-p., 31.)
James Sedgwick Lean entered the Navy, in July, 1798, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Kangaroo 18, Capt. Edw. Brace; and in the following Oct. was twice engaged, in a very gallant manner, with La Loire of 46 guns (part of a force originally under the orders of Commodore Bompart, and destined for the invasion of Ireland), previously to the surrender of that ship to the Kangaroo and her consort the Anson 44. He continued in the same vessel until the close of 1800; and in Sept. 1804, after an intermediate servitude in the Channel and North Sea on board the Clyde 38, Capts. Chas. Cunningham and John Larmour, he joined, as Midshipman, the Camel store-ship, Capts. Thos. Garth and John Joyce, under the latter of whom, having first visited the Mediterranean and Cape of Good Hope, he commanded a gun-boat during the unfortunate attempt made to recover Buenos Ayree in July, 1807. In the course of 1808 Mr. Lean became in succession Master’s Mate, on the Home station, of the Invincible 74, Capt. Ross Donnelly, and.Redpole 10, Capts. John Joyce and Colin M‘Donald. While in the latter of those vessels we find him serving in the Zephyr fire-ship on the occasion of Lord Cochrane’s memorable attack on the enemy’s squadron in Aix Roads in April, 1809; and, among other services, commanding a boat on the river Scheldt during the siege of Flushing. Attaining the rank of Lieutenant 4 Jan. 1810, he served from that period until Dec. 1813 in the Thracian 18, Capts. Jas. Grant, John Lawson, Henry Hart, Joseph Symes, and John Carter, on the Channel and Baltic stations. His next appointment was, 4 Sept. 1826, to the Coast Blockade, in which service he continued for two years as Supernumerary-Lieutenant of the Hyperion 42, Capt. Wm. Jas. Mingaye.
Lieut. Lean at present holds the appointment of Emigration Agent in London.