Early Life

James Hosken was born in Plymouth on 6 December 1798, the son of a Warrant Officer.

Career

At the age of 12 he entered the navy as a midshipman sailing on the Formidable. He worked his way up the ranks to lieutenant, and in 1831 transferred to the merchant service.

Between 1816 – 1819 he served on the Pique in the West Indies, three years in the channel in the brig of the Wolf. 

Then between 1824 – 1823 he served in the revenue cutter, Scout, against smugglers.

In 1828 he was promoted to lieutenant of the bomb-vessel Aetna in the Mediterranean.

As a lieutenant, he transferred to the merchant service in 1831  and by 1832 was in command of the packet Tyrian, carrying the mail from Brazil. From 1833 to 1836 James commanded a merchant ship trading from Liverpool to South America.

He studied the marine steam engine and in 1837 was appointed command of Brunel’sGreat Western, successfully making 64 round trips to New York from Bristol and Liverpool. He was a presented with a telescope by the passengers and a gold watch by the underwriters of Lloyd’s, in testimony to his skill and care.

ssGreat Britain

With his reputation high, he was given command of the iron-clad SS Great Britain, then the largest vessel in the world. After making three or four successful trips, James stranded the Great Britain on a sandy beach at Dundrum Bay in Ireland, on the night of 22 September 1846 in thick fog.

James blamed his out-of-date chart for mistaking lighthouses. If he had been issued with the latest (1845) Journal of Trade by Charles Pope, he would have known about the light at the entrance of the bay, which was not marked on his chart. However, the fact that he thought the light was on the Calf of Man, which he had passed four hours earlier, shows that he was seriously awry in his speed and distance calculations.

Interestingly letters written by Brunel, who came to Dundrum to assess the situation, show him less concerned to blame Hosken than to criticise the board of the steamship company, for leaving it abandoned for so long. Brunel himself worked out a method of re-floating the ship, which took place in August 1847; the Great Britain was then sold to another company who repaired it for further use.

Whatever the fair apportionment of blame, this incident was a blow to James’ reputation and he had no further employment in the merchant service. He moved back into the Royal Navy and spent a few years in Labuan, a small island off Borneo, where he held the posts of harbour master, postmaster and chief magistrate. In 1851 he was appointed to a command in the Mediterranean and in the Baltic campaigns of 1854–1855 he commanded the hospital ship Belle-Isle, which was used to bring troops home at the end of the Crimean War. He was soon promoted to Captain and in 1868 retired to Redland in Bristol. He was promoted to the honorary post of Vice-Admiral in 1879.

Family Life

James’ first marriage was to Jane Butterfill (also known as Butterfield) in 1827. Jane died in 1868 and James then married his cousin Elizabeth Ann Hosken, who was much younger (then aged 34) and an invalid. They applied for a special licence to be married at the bride’s house, but the Archbishop of Canterbury wanted more detail than the couple were prepared to give so they got married at the Wesleyan Chapel in Penryn instead. They later moved to Ilfracombe. James died in 1885 but Elizabeth survived to 1911.

Personal tragedies

Sadly, James lost both his sons by his first marriage during his lifetime. The first, Thomas, a clergyman, died from diphtheria aged 39. The second, also called James, an engineer, was drowned along with his wife Emma and three of their children in the Princess Alice disaster. This was a fateful incident on 5^th September 1878 when the paddle-steamer Princess Alice was struck and cut in two by a large screw steamer, the Bywell Castle on the River Thames. 600 people lost their lives. Vice-Admiral James became a guardian to the three orphan children who remained.

Death 

James died in 1885 but Elizabeth survived to 1911. They are both buried in the grave along with Jane and James Hosken.