SAUMAREZ, JAMES, BARON DE, Admiral, was born at St Peter Port, in the island of Guernsey, on the 11th of March 1757. He was descended from an old family which had originally come from France, and which had held a prominent place for centuries among the gentry of the Channel Islands. The family name, originally Saumarez, was changed about 1700 to Saumarez. Not a few of his kin had already distinguished themselves in the naval service, and this circumstance probably fired the lad's ambition early to run the career peculiar to his house. At the age of thirteen, he accordingly entered the navy as midshipman, and served successively in the Montreal, Winchelsea, and Levant frigates. He distinguished himself at the attack on Charleston, in America, in 1775, on board the Bristol, for which he was raised to the rank of lieutenant. He rose successively under Lord Cornwallis, and Admiral Sir Hyde Parker, until he was promoted to the rank of commander for his gallant services off the Dogger Bank, on the 5th of August 1781. Captain Saumarez now placed himself under Admiral Kempfenfeldt, and he subsequently, while commanding the Russell, a ship of the line, gained great distinction by his conduct at the battle of the 12th of August 1782. A lull of peace succeeded, and for the next ten years he enjoyed the society of his friends in the Channel Isles. On the breaking out of the war with France in January 1793, Saumarez captured La Réunion, a French frigate, for which he received the honour of knighthood. In the month of November following, Sir James received the command of a small squadron, which, on the 5th of June 1794, was attacked by a very superior French force on the way from Plymouth to Guernsey. But so great was the commander's knowledge of the soundings of the Guernsey coast, and so cool was his intrepidity, that he succeeded in gaining a safe anchorage in the harbour of that island, to the great chagrin of the French fleet.
Sir James Saumarez was promoted in 1795 to the Orion, of 74 guns, and engaged in a series of memorable victories under Lord Bridport, Sir John Jervis, and Sir Horatio Nelson. On his return from the battle of the Nile, where he was severely wounded, he received the command of the Cæsar, 84 guns, with orders to watch the French fleet in Brest, during the winters of 1799 and 1800. In 1801 he was raised to the rank of rear-admiral of the blue, was created a baronet, and received the command of a small squadron which was destined to watch the movements of the Spanish fleet at Cadiz. In the month of July, Admiral Saumarez had the satisfaction of preserving a fleet of British merchantmen from falling into the hands of the French. To effect this object he had to engage in two sharp contests with the French and Spanish fleets off Algeciras, which caused the enemy a loss of 3000 men in blown up, killed, and taken prisoners. This Saumarez effected with a small squadron, not half equal in size to the enemy's fleet. Of this contest Lord Nelson remarked that "a greater action was never fought." The admiral was rewarded by the Order of the Bath, and the freedom of the city of London was voted to him, together with a magnificent sword. In 1803 Sir James received a pension of £1,200 a year, and on the breaking out of hostilities with
Russia, he was intrusted with the command of the Baltic fleet, where he had to bring into play all his diplomatic talent. Charles XIII. of Sweden bestowed upon him the Grand Cross of the Military Order of the Sword, as an expression of gratitude for his services. At the peace of 1814 he was made full admiral, in 1819 rear-admiral, and in 1821 vice-admiral of Great Britain. He struck his flag for the last time on the 10th of May 1827. He was raised to the peerage as Baron de Saumarez in 1831. The remainder of his life was spent in peaceful retirement on his estate at Guernsey, where he died on the 9th of October 1836. (See Memoirs, &c., of Admiral Lord de Saumarez, by Sir John Ross, 2 vols., 1838.)