Career
James Brisbane was born in 1774, the son of Admiral John Brisbane and the younger brother of future Admiral Charles Brisbane. In 1787 Brisbane went to sea aboard HMS Culloden and by 1794 he was signal midshipman aboard Lord Howe's flagship HMS Queen Charlotte. 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 HMS Monarch and being present at the surrender of a Dutch squadron in Saldanha Bay.
Brisbane was given command of one of the captured Dutch ships and later the frigate HMS Daphne as a commander, but on his return to Britain in 1797 was reduced to reserve. Remaining on half-pay until 1800, Brisbane married Jemima Ann Ventham shortly before he was returned to sea in command of HMS Cruizer. 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 HMS Saturn 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 HMS Alcmene off Ireland. In 1809, he moved to HMS Belle Poule, 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 French frigate Var 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.
In 1812 Brisbane commanded the newly-built HMS Pembroke in the Channel Fleet and in 1813 returned to the Mediterranean, where he remained for the rest of the war. In 1816, Pembroke was attached to the force under Lord Exmouth that bombarded Algiers and on his return home, Brisbane was knighted. He was already a Companion of the Order of the Bath, having been admitted to the order in 1815.
In 1825, Brisbane was made commander-in-chief of the East Indies Station and sailed there as commodore, arriving in 1826 and taking part in the latter stages of the First Anglo-Burmese War, in which he had some success in riverine operations. During the campaign however he contracted a fatal illness and died from it at Penang in Malaya late in 1826. Brisbane is remembered as a popular and capable commander whose expertise was focused on coastal and riverine operations, which he conducted with success throughout his career.
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