SHAW, John, naval officer, born in Mount Mellick, Queen's county, Ireland, in 1773; died in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 17 September, 1823. He was the son of an English officer, and, after receiving an ordinary education, came to this country with an elder brother in December, 1790, and settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania He became a sailor in the merchant marine, and in 1797 was master of a brig that sailed to the West Indies. When hostilities with France began, he entered the United States navy as a lieutenant, 3 August, 1798. In December of the following year he was given command of the "Enterprise," one of two schooners that had been built especially for chases and conflicts with small fast-sailing privateers. She was of 165 tons burthen, carrying 12 light guns, and a crew that varied from 60 to 75 men. In this vessel, during a cruise of eight months, he captured eight French privateers, and recovered eleven American prizes, fighting five spirited actions, two of them with vessels of superior force. His most serious action, which was considered one of the warmest combats of the war, was with the "Flambeau," of 14 guns and 100 men, which, after a lively chase, he forced to fight and to strike her colors after a little more than an hour. The French vessel lost about half her crew in killed and wounded, to the "Enterprise's" ten. Lieutenant Shaw cruised in the Mediterranean in the "George Washington " in 1801, and in the "John Adams" in 1805; meanwhile he had been promoted to master-commandant, 22 May, 1804. He became captain, 27 August, 1807, and commanded the squadron in 1814 that was blockaded by the enemy in Thames river between New London and Norwich, Connecticut In 1816-'17 he had charge of the Mediterranean squadron, and afterward he commanded the navy-yards at Boston, Massachusetts, and Charleston, South Carolina