James Brisbane

Captain Sir James Brisbane, CB (1774 – 19 December 1826) was a British Royal Navy officer of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Although never engaged in any major actions, Brisbane served under both Lord Howe and Horatio Nelson and performed important work at the Cape of Good Hope, prior to the Battle of Copenhagen and in the Adriatic campaign of 1807–1814. In later life Brisbane became commander-in-chief in the East Indies. He contracted dysentery in Burma and arrived in Port Jackson in Sydney aboard , where he died on 19 December 1826. He was a cousin of General Sir Thomas Brisbane who had earlier been governor of New South Wales. Career James Brisbane was born in 1774, the fifth son of Admiral John Brisbane and the younger brother of future Admiral Charles Brisbane. In 1787, Brisbane went to sea aboard and by 1794 he was signal midshipman aboard Lord Howe's flagship . Brisbane served in this capacity at the Glorious First of June, where Queen Charlotte was heavily engaged and badly damaged. In the aftermath of the battle, Brisbane was promoted to lieutenant and was sent to the Cape of Good Hope, later joining George Elphinstone's flagship and being present at the surrender of a Dutch squadron in Saldanha Bay. Brisbane was promoted to commander and given command of one of the captured Dutch ships, the sloop , which the Royal Navy renamed Daphne. When she reached Plymouth in September 1797 the Navy paid off Daphne and Brisbane was put on half-pay. Brisbane remained on half-pay until 1800; he married Jemima Ann Ventham shortly before he returned to sea in command of . Cruizer was attached to Sir Hyde Parker's Baltic fleet on commissioning and Brisbane came under the direct command of Admiral Horatio Nelson, who used Cruizer to take soundings and make charts of the approaches to Copenhagen prior to the British attack on the city at the Battle of Copenhagen. Brisbane impressed his superiors in this duty and in 1801 was made a post-captain and commanded under Admiral Thomas Totty until the admiral's death. Between 1803 and 1805, Brisbane commanded the Kent sea fencibles and in 1807 took command of off Ireland. In 1809, he moved to , and commanded her in the Adriatic Sea and Ionian Sea in the early stages of the Adriatic campaign of 1807–1814. There Brisbane captured the off Valona. He later participated in the capture of several of the Ionian Islands and remained in the region until 1811, becoming an expert in coastal operations.