A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Shairp, Alexander
SHAIRP. (Commander, 1827.)
Alexander Shairp is brother of Lieut. Stephen Shairp, R.N.
This officer entered the Navy, 20 May, 1808, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Calypso sloop, Capt. Matthew Barton Bradby, stationed in the North Sea and Baltic; served, from July, 1810, until March, 1813, in the East Indies, as Midshipman, in the Hussar and Modeste frigates, Capts. Alex. Skene and Jas. Coutts Crawford; and, from March, 1813, until presented in Sept. 1815 with a commission bearing date 9 March in that year, was employed in the Channel, at the Cape of Good Hope, and in the Mediterranean in the Niger 38, Capt. Peter Rainier, and Berwick 74, Capt. Edw. Brace. In the Calypso he accompanied the expedition of 1809 to the Walcheren; in the Hussar he co-operated, in 1811, in the reduction of Java; in the Niger he assisted, in company with the Tagus 36, at the capture, 6 Jan. 1814, of the French 40-gun frigate Cérès; and in the Berwick he took part, in 1815, in the siege of Gaeta. His appointments in the capacity of Lieutenant were – in Aug. 1818, to the Rochfort 80, flag-ship of Sir Thos. Fras. Fremantle, fitting for the Mediterranean – 29 March and 16 June, 1820, to the Révolutionnaire 46 and Beaver sloop, Capts. Hon. Fleetwood Broughton Reynolds Pellew and Fred. Marryat, on the Mediterranean and St. Helena stations – 30 Nov. 1822, to the Nimrod 18, Capt. Wm. Rochfort, employed at first in quelling an alarming insurrection of the keelmen in the river Tyne, next on the west coast of Scotland and on a mission to the river Garonne, and finally in cruizing on the coast of Ireland – and, 10 April, 1826, to the Heron 18, Capt. Robt. Tait, equipping for South America. He attained his present rank 30 April, 1827; and from 22 Sept. 1835 until the close of 1838 was employed as an Inspecting-Commander in the Coast Guard. Agents – Messrs. Stilwell.