The Sterling genealogy

THE STERLINGS OF FASKINE 169
a post-captain and appointed to the Lynn, a vessel of 40 guns, in
which ship he cruised until 1761, when he removed into the Low-
estoffe, a new ship of 24 guns, and in her, in May, 1762, destroyed
two of the enemies praams off Gravelines. He was appointed
commander of the Rainbow, of 40 guns, in 1763 and ordered to
North America, where he remained until 1766. He commanded
various ships between 1766 and 1780, when he was made a captain
of the Gibraltar, of 80 guns, one of the squadron sent to the West
Indies, under the order of Sir Samuel Hood, to reinforce Lord
Rodney.
The expedition against the Dutch island, St. Eustatia, took
place soon after and he was chosen messenger to the English King
of the British successes and was knighted. He had a number of
other commands, among them that of The Nore in 1781.
Sir Walter married, Oct. 30, 1753, Dorothy, daughter of
Charles Willing of Philadelphia, Penn., by his wife, Ann Skipper.
She died Sept. 25, 1782. She is buried at Drumpellier, near Glas-
gow. Sir Walter died at Red Lion Square, London, Nov. 24, 1786,
and was buried at Hammondsworth, Middlesex, England.
Issue:
III 1 Walter Stirling, born June 24, 1758, who succeeded.
married in August,
2 Charles Stirling, bom Apr. 28, 1760 ;
1789, Charlotte, daughter of Andrew Grote of London,
banker, who died Mar. 25, 1825. He was a
commissioner of the Royal Navy at Jamaica in June,
1803 ; was made a rear admiral in 1807 and later a
vice admiral; commanded at Montevideo on the cap-
ture of that place and afterward commanded at the
Cape of Good Hope. He resided at Woburn Farm,
Chertsey, Surrey, England ; died in November, 1833.
1 Walter Stirling commanded the Essex, of 64 guns, under Commodore Viscount
Howe in the expedition to Cherbourg in 1758 (the year subsequent to his trip to Vir-
ginia, when the above letter was written), in which ship, on the same occasion, Prince
Edward, afterwards Duke of York, entered the navy under his guidance. Capt.
Stirling, in the Saltash, accompanied Viscount Keppel in his attack upon Goree. He
was subsequently appointed Commodore and Commander-in-chief at The Nore and
on George III reviewing the ships under his command, was offered the baronetcy
afterward conferred upon his eldest son. (Burke.)
Sir Walter is also referred to in correspondence between Francis Jerdone of Yorktown,
Va., and Capt. Hugh Crawford of Philadelphia, in 1751, Sterling being in the
latter town at the time. (William and Mary College Quarterly.)