diff --git a/r/R/ipc.R b/r/R/ipc.R
index 8c6a66741..721e1b238 100644
--- a/r/R/ipc.R
+++ b/r/R/ipc.R
@@ -243,3 +243,25 @@ guess_zip_filename <- function(x) {
 
   files
 }
+
+# The C-level R_tryCatch() does not provide for handling interrupts (or
+# I couldn't figure out how to make it work), so instead we provide wrappers
+# around readBin() and writeBin() that convert interrupt conditions to errors
+# (which the C code does know how to handle).
+read_bin_wrapper <- function(con, what, n) {
+  withCallingHandlers(
+    readBin(con, what, n),
+    interrupt = function(e) {
+      stop("user interrupt")
+    }
+  )
+}
+
+write_bin_wrapper <- function(object, con) {
+  withCallingHandlers(
+    writeBin(object, con),
+    interrupt = function(e) {
+      stop("user interrupt")
+    }
+  )
+}
diff --git a/r/src/ipc.c b/r/src/ipc.c
index e2703b128..4e7f84479 100644
--- a/r/src/ipc.c
+++ b/r/src/ipc.c
@@ -148,7 +148,7 @@ static SEXP call_readbin(void* hdata) {
   SEXP n = PROTECT(Rf_ScalarReal((double)data->buf_size_bytes));
   SEXP call = PROTECT(Rf_lang4(nanoarrow_sym_readbin, data->con, nanoarrow_ptype_raw, n));
 
-  SEXP result = PROTECT(Rf_eval(call, R_BaseEnv));
+  SEXP result = PROTECT(Rf_eval(call, nanoarrow_ns_pkg));
   R_xlen_t bytes_read = Rf_xlength(result);
   memcpy(data->buf, RAW(result), bytes_read);
   *(data->size_read_out) = bytes_read;
@@ -160,13 +160,13 @@ static SEXP call_readbin(void* hdata) {
 static SEXP call_writebin(void* hdata) {
   struct ConnectionInputStreamHandler* data = (struct ConnectionInputStreamHandler*)hdata;
 
-  // Write 1MB chunks
-  int64_t chunk_buffer_size = 1048576;
+  // Write 16MB chunks
+  int64_t chunk_buffer_size = 16777216;
   SEXP chunk_buffer = PROTECT(Rf_allocVector(RAWSXP, chunk_buffer_size));
   SEXP call = PROTECT(Rf_lang3(nanoarrow_sym_writebin, chunk_buffer, data->con));
   while (data->buf_size_bytes > chunk_buffer_size) {
     memcpy(RAW(chunk_buffer), data->buf, chunk_buffer_size);
-    Rf_eval(call, R_BaseEnv);
+    Rf_eval(call, nanoarrow_ns_pkg);
     data->buf_size_bytes -= chunk_buffer_size;
     data->buf += chunk_buffer_size;
   }
@@ -178,7 +178,7 @@ static SEXP call_writebin(void* hdata) {
     chunk_buffer = PROTECT(Rf_allocVector(RAWSXP, data->buf_size_bytes));
     call = PROTECT(Rf_lang3(nanoarrow_sym_writebin, chunk_buffer, data->con));
     memcpy(RAW(chunk_buffer), data->buf, data->buf_size_bytes);
-    Rf_eval(call, R_BaseEnv);
+    Rf_eval(call, nanoarrow_ns_pkg);
     UNPROTECT(2);
   }
 
diff --git a/r/src/util.c b/r/src/util.c
index 7bce0c1dd..56d9d05a7 100644
--- a/r/src/util.c
+++ b/r/src/util.c
@@ -43,8 +43,8 @@ void nanoarrow_init_cached_sexps(void) {
   nanoarrow_cls_schema = PROTECT(Rf_mkString("nanoarrow_schema"));
   nanoarrow_cls_array_stream = PROTECT(Rf_mkString("nanoarrow_array_stream"));
   nanoarrow_cls_buffer = PROTECT(Rf_mkString("nanoarrow_buffer"));
-  nanoarrow_sym_readbin = PROTECT(Rf_install("readBin"));
-  nanoarrow_sym_writebin = PROTECT(Rf_install("writeBin"));
+  nanoarrow_sym_readbin = PROTECT(Rf_install("read_bin_wrapper"));
+  nanoarrow_sym_writebin = PROTECT(Rf_install("write_bin_wrapper"));
   nanoarrow_ptype_raw = PROTECT(Rf_allocVector(RAWSXP, 0));
 
   R_PreserveObject(nanoarrow_ns_pkg);