A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Sinclair, Archibald
SINCLAIR. (Captain, 1841.)
Archibald Sinclair, born 20 Sept. 1801, is fourth son of the late Right Hon. Sir John Sinclair, Bart., D.C.L., F.R. and A.S., Cashier of the Excise in Scotland, by his second wife, Diana, youngest daughter of Alexander, first Lord Macdonald. He is brother of the present Sir Geo. Sinclair, Bart.; and brother-in-law of George, late Earl of Glasgow. His first-cousin, Jane, daughter (by one of his father’s sisters) of General Alex. Campbell of Barcaldine, was wife of the late Earl of Caithness.
This officer entered the Navy, 19 April, 1814, as Fst.-cl. Vol., on board the Armada 74, Capt. Chas. Grant, attached to the fleet in the Mediterranean. In Nov. of the same year he became Midshipman of the Chatham 74, commanded in the Channel by Capt. David Lloyd; and between Sept. 1815 and Feb. 1823 he was employed on the East India station in the Challenger sloop, Capts. Henry Forbes and Philip Henry Bridges, Trincomalee of 48 guns, Capt. P. H. Bridges, Orlando 36 and Malabar 74, both commanded by Capt. John Clavell, Minden 74, flag-ship of Sir Rich. King, and Liffey 50, Commodore Grant. He was then nominated Acting-Lieutenant of the Dauntless 24, Capt. Geo. Cornish Gambier; and on his return to England he was officially promoted by a commission bearing date 22 Oct. 1823. He had, while in India, accompanied an expedition against the pirates of the Persian Gulf. His appointments after he left the Dauntless were – 10 Feb. 1825, to the Glasgow 50, Capt. Hon. Jas. Ashley Maude, in the Channel – 10 Dec. following, to the Doterel 18, Capt. Henry Edwards, on the Halifax station – and, 7 Sept. 1829, to the St. Vincent 120, flag-ship of the Earl of Northesk at Plymouth. He was promoted to the rank of Commander 22 July, 1830; was appointed the next day Second Captain of the Warspite 76, bearing the flag of Sir Thos. Baker in South America; and on 16 Sept. 1831 was removed to the command of the Jaseur 18, at the Cape of Good Hope. He paid that vessel off in Oct. 1832; and has not been since afloat. His Post-commission bears date 23 Nov. 1841.
In 1826 Capt. Sinclair was presented with the honorary medallion of the Royal Humane Society for having twice, in the Glasgow, saved the life of others, at the imminent hazard of his own. On the first occasion he plunged in his uniform overboard, in a dark night and a high sea, after a Midshipman, the present Commander Thos. Hope, and was only saved from perishing by accidentally grasping a rope which happened to be hanging over the side of the ship. In the second instance he similarly rescued a seaman named Friend, who had fallen overboard in an epileptic fit. Agents – Messrs. Stilwell.