Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Coffin, Isaac (1759-1839)
COFFIN, Sir ISAAC (1759–1839), admiral, the son of an officer of the customs at Boston, Massachusetts, was born there on 16 May 1759. He entered the navy in 1773 under the patronage of Rear-admiral Montagu, then commander-in-chief on the North American station, and was advanced to be lieutenant in January 1778. He was then appointed to the command of the Placentia cutter, and afterwards of the Pinson armed ship, which last was wrecked on the coast of Labrador. In 1781 he was one of the lieutenants of the Royal Oak with Vice-admiral Arbuthnot, and acted as signal-lieutenant in the action off Cape Henry [see Arbuthnot, Marriot], On 3 July 1781 he was made commander, and towards the winter, when Sir Samuel Hood was returning to the West Indies, obtained permission to serve as a volunteer on board the Barfleur, Sir Samuel's flagship. He was thus present in the brilliant action at St. Kitt's, and by Hood's interest was promoted to be captain of the Shrewsbury of 74 guns on 13 June 1782. He had scarcely taken up his commission before he was involved in a difficulty, which an older officer might well have feared. Three boys, of respectively five, four, and two years' service at sea, were appointed by Sir George Rodney as lieutenants of the Shrewsbury. Coffin, in the first instance, refused to receive them, as not qualified according to the instructions, and as incapable of doing the duty. Afterwards, understanding that it was Rodney's positive order, he did receive them; but was nevertheless ordered to be tried by court-martial for disobedience and contempt. The trial was held at Port Royal on 29 July, when his own commission was scarcely more than six weeks old. He was acquitted of contempt, and the court, pronouncing that 'the appointment of these officers by commission was irregular and contrary to the established rules of the service,' acquitted him also of the charge of disobedience. The lieutenants, however, having been appointed by the comrnander-in-chief, remained on board the Shrewsbury, notwithstanding the decision of the court, and it was not till Coffin wrote (20 Sept. 1782), begging their lordships to have them suspended, as he considered 'it necessary to have lieutenants on board who knew their duty,' that the admiralty issued an order (14 Dec.) cancelling their commissions. Before the order came out Coffin had been removed into the Hydra of 20 guns, which he took to England and paid off.
He then spent some time in France, and in 1786 was appointed to command the Thisbe frigate, which was ordered to carry out Lord Dorchester and his family to Quebec. While still on the North American station he was, in 1788, accused by the master of knowingly signing a false muster. When the case was brought before a court-martial it was shown that four young gentlemen were borne on the ship's books as captain's servants, but had not been present on board; and though the custom was general throughout the service, though there was probably not one captain on the court who had not himself been guilty of the same offence, and though the charge unquestionably arose out of personal malice, the court was compelled, by the plain letter of the law, to find Coffin guilty. The law directed the person so offending to be cashiered. The court not unnaturally thought that this punishment was altogether out of proportion to the offence, and therefore sentenced Coffin to be dismissed his ship. When the sentence came home, Lord Howe, then first lord of the admiralty, at once saw that it was a blunder, and by way of correcting it ordered Coffin's name to be struck off the list. Against this Coffin petitioned, and by the king's command the case was submitted to the judges, who pronounced that the sentence of the court was illegal, and also that the punishment as directed by the act could not be inflicted by any other authority. Coffin was therefore reinstated in the service, Lord Howe not considering it advisable to exercise the right of the admiralty arbitrarily to dismiss him from the navy. The case is still quoted as a precedent, establishing the limits of admiralty interference with the sentence of a court-martial (McArthur, Principles and Practice of Courts-martial (2nd edit.), ii. 227; Times, 29 Nov. 1882).
Coffin, who had retired to the continent, now returned to England, and in 1790 was appointed to the Alligator of 28 guns. The ship was lying at the Nore, with a strong tide running and the wind blowing fresh, when a man fell overboard. Coffin immediately jumped after him, and succeeded in rescuing him; but in the exertion he ruptured himself badly. In the following year the Alligator was sent to America to bring back Lord Dorchester; after which the ship was paid off. Coffin then paid a lengthened visit to Denmark, Sweden, and Russia, possibly with the idea of entering the service of one of those states. On the outbreak of the war with France he returned to England, and was appointed to the Melampus frigate in the Channel. While serving in her, towards the end of 1794, an accidental strain brought on the worst effects of his former rupture. He was never again fit for active service. He was appointed regulating captain at Leith, but in October 1795 was sent out to Corsica as commissioner of the navy. When that island was evacuated in October 1796, he was sent to Lisbon in the same capacity. In 1798 he was removed to Minorca; a few months later to Halifax, and afterwards to Sheerness, where he still was when he attained the rank of rear-admiral, 23 April 1804. During all this time, though unable to undertake any active service, he earned a distinct reputation as an energetic and efficient commissioner, and in acknowledgment of his exertions he was created a baronet 19 May 1804. He continued as superintendent at Portsmouth till he was promoted to be vice-admiral 28 April 1808, after which he had no further employment. He became admiral 4 June 1814, and sat in parliament from 1818 to 1826 as member for Ilchester. He died 23 July 1839, and leaving no children the title became extinct. In 1811 he married Elizabeth, only child of Mr. William Greenly of Titley Court, and by royal permission assumed the name and arms of Greenly, which, however, he again dropped two years later. His wife died 27 Jan. 1839.
[Minutes of the Courts-martial and other documents in the Public Record Office; Marshall's Roy. Nav. Biog. i. 229; Gent. Mag. (1840), vol. cxv. pt. i. p. 205.]