American naval officer, born at Burlington, NJ, on the 1st of October 1781. In 1802 he was made lieutenant and took part in the war with Tripoli, where he distinguished himself on several occasions. In 1811 he was promoted to a captaincy, and made commander of the United States gunboat Hornet. In a fight with the English brig-of-war Peacock, off Demerara, Lawrence sank the latter after an engagement of fifteen minutes. For this victory he received the thanks of Congress. In 1813, as commander of the frigate Chesapeake, Lawrence had an engagement near Boston with the British frigate Shannon, under Capt. P. V. Broke. Lawrence was shot, and the Chesapeake was captured in spite of his dying cry, “Don’t give up the ship!” on being carried below. He died on the 5th of July 1813.
