Whakaotihia te rerenga e whai ake nei: I whānau a James Walker i te tau 1764, he tama a James Walker o Innerdovat, Fife me tana wahine, te kaituhi, a Mary Leslie, te tuatoru o nga tamahine a Alexander Melville, 5th Earl o Leven. I uru ia ki te kaipuke hei kaipuke i runga i te 32-gun i te 18 o Tihema 1776, e mahi ana i raro i a Kapene William Garnier. I haere ia ki Jamaica i te marama o Hanuere 1777, engari i hoki mai ki nga wai o Ingarangi mo te mahi i te Moana-a-Kiwa, katahi ka uru atu ki te Channel Ingarihi me te kaipuke a Sir Charles Hardy i te wa o te
te raru o te whakaekenga i te tau 1779. I a ia e mahi ana i te Channel i te tau 1780, i mau a Southampton i tetahi kaipuke 18-gun French i Portland, me nga tangata 80 i runga i a ia. I tukuna a Walker ki te awhina ki te tango i nga herehere, a, i muri i tana mahi i tera, i noho tonu ki runga i te papa hei awhina i te peera me te papu, i te mea kei te raru te kaipuke. Ahakoa ngā mahi a ia, ka hinga te kaipuke, ā, tata tonu ki te tango i a Walker. I roto ia i te wai mō te tekau meneti i mua i te whakaoranga.