The City of Mount Pearl gets its name from its enigmatic founder, Sir James Pearl, who led an incredibly interesting life before settling in Newfoundland. From a childhood bouncing around North America to an early death, Pearl's short life was packed with fascinating stories and events. He served in the British Navy during the Napoleonic Wars, captained his own vessel in the private industry, had two notable relationships with women, started a farm that became a city, and fought continuously with the governor of Newfoundland. Pearl lived such a full life that being the pseudo-founder of Mount Pearl is only the tip of the iceberg.
Due to just how full a life Pearl lived, his history will be posted in two parts. This first one will cover his life before arriving in Newfoundland!
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| Possible Portrait of Sir James Pearl, Admiralty House Communications Museum Collection |
Early Life
The beginning of Pearl's life is murky, as his family moved around a lot during the years he was likely born. Donald L. Hutchens and Lilla Ross, who wrote the sole book on Pearl, speculate that he was born in 1790, though they can only guess at where. The most plausible options are Yarmouth, Nova Scotia or New York City, as this is where the records place Pearl's family in the years before and after his birth. James was the youngest of seven children, so he was mostly raised by his oldest sister, Eunice, and her husband, George Blamey, in Nova Scotia (1). James likely cared for them both a great deal, as in 1799, a nine-year-old James followed George into service aboard the Pheasant, enlisting in His Majesty's Navy as a volunteer first class (2).
Naval Adventures
Pearl's career in the navy spanned 28 years, and he had reached the rank of commander by the time he retired in 1827. He had many different roles while in the navy, but the majority of his time was spent as a lieutenant. Pearl joined the British Navy on the eve of the Napoleonic Wars, and the first half of his career was spent fighting them. In fact, he served on the Neptune 98, the third ship on the "windward line of battle" during the infamous Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. During that battle, which pitted the English fleet against those of the French and Spanish, Pearl was the Neptune's signalman, responsible for relaying messages between each ship present. While 44 men on his ship ended the battle dead or injured, Pearl survived unscathed. He was present as the Neptune towed the H.M.S Victory, the British flagship that now carried the corpse of Admiral Nelson back home to England after his death in the battle. Despite these losses, England came out of the battle victorious, with not a single ship lost (3).
In 1809, Pearl was serving on the Mediator when it, along with several other British ships under Admiral Lord Gambier, stumbled upon part of the French fleet anchored at the Isle d'Aix. When they discovered the ships, they called on Captain Lord Cochrane to orchestrate their attack. He implemented a new, radical, and to some uncivilized, naval strategy of his own invention, and outfitted eight of the British ships as fireships, rigged to explode after their crews steered them into enemy ships. Pearl was responsible for steering his ship, the Mediator, into the French squadron, and upon impact had to make a hasty retreat into the water with the rest of her crew. While one man died and another was permanently disabled, Pearl escaped with only minor burns as the French fled on the few ships which the English had not destroyed. However it was not a victory for them all, as James Pearl was the only lieutenant involved in the mission that was not promoted afterwards. After participating in a naval brigade of Veere, Pearl spent the next several years of his service on ships which patrolled the waters of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. In the wake of the Napoleonic Wars, naval positions became scarce, so Pearl requested, and was granted, a two year leave of absence to venture east (4).
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| Francis Sartorius - Neptune engaged Trafalgar 1805 |
Far East Expeditions
It was common in the early nineteenth century for British navy men to take leaves of absence and try their hands at trading in the territories which lay eastward of Europe, mostly in India and China. While Pearl was following in the footsteps of others, his timing was likely decided by a letter received by the Admiralty in July 1816, from a Mr. Ommanney, claiming that Pearl owed him a debt. Regardless of his reasoning, Pearl did fairly well for himself in his first few years abroad; after taking command of the Indiana, a trading vessel, he was able to pay off his debts and even buy the vessel off of Baretto & Sons, the trading house to which it belonged (5). He was known as a country trader, a European individual who commanded smaller ships and kept their trading confined to the region. There are records of him trading textiles, spices, and opium which, although illegal in China, was smuggled in by private traders not connected to the East India Company.
In 1821, on one of his voyages between Calcutta and Burma, the Indiana stumbled upon the debris of the crashed and sank Tek Sing (True Star in English), a Chinese ship that had been carrying passengers and porcelain. The survivors of the accident were clinging to the debris, most of them naked due to the harsh conditions. Pearl spent the two days searching for and picking up survivors, even taking fabric from his trade goods to clothe everyone. He then spent a week sailing to Pontiana, on the coast of Borneo, where the Dutch commissioner, J.H. Tobias commended him for his good work. Pearl later received a gold medal from the King of the Netherlands for his heroism. Due to his sacrifice of textiles, and the diversion, Pearl lost a significant amount of income from rescuing the Tek Sing's survivors, which he spent years trying to recoup, even going so far as to ask for a reward from merchants in Canton for his actions. Regardless of this setback, Pearl returned to England in 1826, and lived as "a man of means," so his time abroad was ultimately successful (6). While abroad, Pearl also served in his last naval engagement, when he volunteered for and commanded ships in the Burmese War (7).
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| Chinese "trading junk", 19th-century - Similar to the Tek Sing |
A Pause for Romance
While James Pearl did devote much of his life to his sailing career, he also had time for other pursuits, including romantic ones. Hutchens and Ross detail two of his amorous adventures, Lucy Eleanor Kerehappuch Crook and Anne Hawkens, whom he later married. Not much is known about Lucy Crook, and Pearl never mentioned her in any of his surviving letters. Indeed, we only know about their relationship through a monument he raised in Wiltshire County, England, after her premature death in 1822. He placed it there "to perpetuate the long sincere and lasting affection entertained for her," as they would have married had she lived (8). Seven years later, Pearl married Anne Hawkins on May 6th. 1829 at St. Pancras Church in London. By the end of that year, they had both settled in Newfoundland, and embarked upon the journey to becoming long-remembered (9).
James Pearl's next adventure was starting a life in Newfoundland, check back in for our next post which details his settlement!
Bibliography
1. Donald L. Hutchens and Lilla Ross, Pearl: The Man and The Place, (St. John’s: SeaFlow Publishing, 2007), 4-5.
2. Pearl, 8.
3. Pearl, 15-17.
4. Pearl, 19-22.
5. Pearl, 23.
6. Pearl, 24-27.
7. Pearl, 31.
8. Pearl, 29.
9. Pearl, 33-35.
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