LAWRENCE, James, American naval of ficer: b. Burlington, N. J., 1 Oct. 1781; d. 5 June 1813. He entered the navy as a midship man 4 Sept. 1798; in 1800 was made acting lieutenant and in April, 1802, lieutenant, and served during the war with Tripoli; he was first lieutenant of the rchooner Enterprise and one of the party which boarded and destroyed the frigate Philadelphia in the harbor of Tripoli on the night of 15 Feb. 1804. Shortly before peace was concluded he was given command of a gunboat, and on his return to the United States, served as first lieutenant of the Chesapeake and subsequently commanded the Vixen, the Wasp and the Argus. In November 1810 he was pro moted to the rank of master commandant and given command of the Hornet. In 1812 he cruised in the Hornet with Commodore Bain bridge's squadron along the South American coast, and at the mouth of the Memerara River he met the British brig Peacock, which after a severe action of about 15 minutes he forced to surrender. When she surrendered, the Peacock was badly damaged and sinking, and Lawrence transferred the crew to his own ship. (See
HORNET). On 14 March 1813 he was promoted to the rank of captain and .appointed to the frigate Chesapeake, then lying in Boston; the Hornet was also placed under his orders and it was intended that the two ships should sail against the Greenland' whale fishery. On 1 June 1813, when the Chesapeake was ready for sea, Lawrence sailed out of the harbor to meet the British ship Shannon; after a severe battle he was forced to surrender, and his ship was taken as aprize into Halifax. (See CHESA PEAKE AND SHANNON, BATTLE OF). Lawrence was fatally wounded and died four days 'after the battle; throughout the action he showed the greatest coolness and courage, and his last words as he was carried from the deck were, °Don't give up the ship.'" Consult Gleaves, Albert, 9. Lawrence, Captain. U. S. Navy> (New York 1904); Niles, J. M., 'Life of 0. H. Perry' (Hartford 1821) ; Roosevelt, 'Naval War of 181V (2 vols., New York 1904).