James Loggie (abt. 1720 - abt. 1779)

Born about 1720 in Plymouth, Devon, England

Husband of Elizabeth (Perry) Foster — married 5 Dec 1777 in Stoke Damerel, Devon, England

Descendants

Died about Jan 1779 at about age 59 in Stoke Damerel, Devon, England

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Biography Captain James Loggie

James Loggie was an officer in the Royal Navy during the Seven Years War (1756-1763). He was born around 1720 in Plymouth, England, the son of James Loggie (Senior) but his mother is unknown. Probably, the Loggies were originally from Scotland, possibly Kincardine. We also know little of his early life, but we do know from the will ^[1] he left in 1777 that he did have two brothers, David and William, and two sisters, Christian and Margaret. In 1777 David was the only one of his siblings living.

His service record ^[2] shows that he joined the navy on 22 April 1733 as a ship’s boy before becoming a Midshipman. On 29 May 1741, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant after passing his examination ^[3]. He was promoted to the rank of Commander on 23 March 1756. His will ^[1] makes reference to his first command aboard the sloop Peregrine from 1757-1758. In 1717 an English trading post was established in Oporto, Portugal’s second-largest city, and the production of port wine in Portugal gradually passed into English hands. When war threatened the port wine trade with England the 20-gun sloop Peregrine was despatched in 1757 to keep the trade route to England open. When Peregrine left the station the members of the English Factory (Feitoria Inglesa) presented Loggie with a silver cup in appreciation of the services provided.

On 20 April 1758, James Loggie was promoted to Captain and given command of the 24 gun sixth-rate ship, HMS Greyhound and the following year he was given command of the 36-gun fifth-rate frigate HMS Brilliant.

Battle of Bishops Court

Between 21 and 26 February 1760 a force of three French vessels, the 44-gun Maréchal de Belle-Isle, the 36-gun Blonde and the 30-gun Terpsichore arrived off the coast of Ireland. Under the command of privateer Thurot, they landed 600 French troops and captured the town of Carrickfergus and held the town for five days. HMS Brilliant and her sister ship HMS Pallas were in port at Kinsale in southern Ireland and were sent north to intercept Thurot's force. While at sea they were joined by HMS Aeolus whose captain, John Elliott, assumed overall command of the squadron. The three Royal Navy frigates reached Dublin on the morning of 26 February, but bad weather prevented them from entering Belfast Lough. On the same day, Thurot re-embarked his troops and put to sea, evading the British vessels, and seeking to return south to France.

After two days of searching, the three Royal Navy frigates encountered Thurot's forces at 4 a.m. on 28 February between the Mull of Galloway and the Isle of Man. A general chase ensued with Brilliant overhauling the 36-gun Blonde and engaging her in battle at around 9 a.m., offshore from Bishopscourt on the Isle of Man. Blonde quickly surrendered, as did Terpsichore which had been fired upon by Pallas. Thurot's flagship Maréchal de Belle-Isle fought on alone against all three Royal Navy vessels, with her crew making repeated attempts to board and seize Aeolus.

After ninety minutes of close combat, Thurot was killed by a shot through the neck, and Maréchal de Belle-Isle was so battered from cannon fire that she began to sink. Her surviving crew surrendered and were taken prisoner. Brilliant, Pallas and Aeolus then anchored off the Isle of Man to repair damage to their rigging and masts before sailing for Portsmouth with their prizes. The French had suffered 300 casualties in the battle. A further 1000 men were taken prisoner, including both soldiers and crew. British casualties were small with Aeolus suffering four killed and 15 wounded; Pallas one killed and five wounded and Brilliant escaping with no deaths and 11 men wounded.

Battle of Cape Finisterre

On 14 August 1761, HMS Brilliant was accompanying the 74-gun HMS Bellona from Lisbon to England when they encountered Courageux, a 74-gun French ship of the line, and two frigates, Malicieuse and Hermione. After some manoeuvring, the British and French squadrons finally engaged with each other at 6.00 a.m. on the morning of 14 August offshore from Cape Finisterre.

Bellona opened fire on Corageux while Brilliant engaged Maliceuse and Hermione. Through skilful sailing, Loggie was able to keep both French frigates at bay and unable to assist Courageux, which surrendered to Bellona after ninety minutes of fighting. At 7.30 a.m. Maliceuse and Hermione made sail and retreated, with Brilliant too damaged to give chase. British losses in the battle numbered six killed and 28 wounded on Bellona and five killed and 16 wounded on Brilliant. On the French side, losses on Courageux alone were 240 killed and 110 wounded. Historian William Laird Clowes has suggested that the much higher French casualty rate was the result of differences in tactics. The French gun crews trained to fire at the masts and rigging of an enemy ship to disable it ahead of a boarding attempt. By contrast, British crews were trained to fire into the hulls of enemy ships.

There were several small victories for Brilliant throughout 1761, with the capture of the 6-gun privateers Le Malouin and Le Curieux from St. Malo, and the 8-gun La Mignonne from Bayonne. After a period spent refitting at Portsmouth, in January 1763 Brilliant was sailed to Dublin to assist in clearing stores and transporting crew from the 66-gun HMS Devonshire, which was in port after being damaged at sea. Later that year she had her final victory at sea, overhauling and forcing the surrender of the small 8-gun privateer L'Esperance.

War with France was by now drawing to a close, and in March 1763 Loggie brought Brilliant to Deptford Dockyard where she was decommissioned, and her crew paid off to join other vessels.

On 6 May 1763, James Loggie took command of the 68-gun ship of the line HMS Burford commissioned as a guardship at Plymouth. A guard ship is a warship assigned as a stationary guard in a port or harbour. Guard ships would carry sails and rigging aboard, be defouled below the waterline to increase their speed under sail and be manned by at least one-quarter of their normal crew. Multiple guardships were required at larger ports such as Plymouth. If war were declared, or an enemy fleet was sighted, the guard ships could become fully manned and ready for sea in a matter of hours or days. As the senior captain among the Plymouth guard ships, James Loggie was appointed as Commodore.

James Loggie is known to have sired a son, Charles Loggie, who was born in 1755 although there is no information regarding the boy’s mother or what happened to her. He is known to have married Elizabeth Foster, the widow of Ferdinando Foster although the actual date is not certain. The most likely scenario is that they married during this period. James was joined aboard Burford by his eight-year-old son Charles as captain’s servant.

In February 1763, as the Seven Years War ended, the Prime Minister, John Stuart, the 3rd Earl of Bute, decided to maintain a standing army of ten thousand British regular troops in the colonies of British America and British West Indies. In April 1764 HMS Burford was quickly refitted to enable the ship to carry troops to the West Indies.

Burford returned to Plymouth in 1765 to resume service as a guard ship until 1766. At about the same time James Loggie lost his sight and was awarded a pension. James and his wife Elizabeth had three children in addition to Charles Loggie from James’ first marriage and Edward Perry Foster from Elizabeth’s first marriage. Charlotte Loggie was born in 1767, Catherine Loggie in 1771 and Harriett Barrington Loggie in 1774.

James Loggie died in 1779 in Stoke Damerel, Devon.

Research Notes

• England, Select Marriages, 1538–1973, FHL Film Number 916921 shows that James Loggie married Elizabeth Foster on 5 Dec 177 in Stoke Damerel, Devon, England after the birth of their daughters who were named as James Loggie’s daughters in his will ^[1] dated 1977. What was their relationship prior to 1977?
• What happened to Ferdinando Foster?

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} England & Wales, Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills, 1384-1858. PROB 11: Will Registers 1777-1780 Piece 1050: Warburton, Quire Numbers 48-94 (1779). https://www.ancestry.com.au/imageviewer/collections/5111/images/40611_310193-00239?pId=536136
2. ↑ Accessed through Three Decks Forum, https://threedecks.org/index.php?display_type=show_crewman&id=9739#CSORN
3. ↑ ADM 107/3 1712-1745 Lieutenants' passing certificates. http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C513650