Sir Murray Maxwell | |
|---|---|
 Captain Murray Maxwell, 1817 | |
| Born | 10 September 1775 Wigtownshire, Scotland |
| Died | 26 June 1831 (aged 55) Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, England |
| Allegiance |  United Kingdom |
| Service |  Royal Navy |
| Years of service | 1790–1831 |
| Rank | Captain |
| Battles / wars | |
| Awards | Knight Bachelor Companion of the Order of the Bath |
Captain Sir Murray Maxwell, CB, FRS (10 September 1775 – 26 June 1831)[1] was a British Royal Navy officer who served with distinction in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, particularly during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Maxwell first gained recognition as one of the British captains involved in the successful Adriatic campaign of 1807–1814, during which he was responsible for the destruction of a French armaments convoy at the action of 29 November 1811. As a result of further success in the Mediterranean, Maxwell was given increasingly important commissions and, despite the loss of his ship HMS Daedalus off Ceylon in 1813, was appointed to escort the British Ambassador to China in 1816.
The voyage to China subsequently became famous when Maxwell's ship HMS Alceste was wrecked in the Gaspar Strait, and he and his crew became stranded on a nearby island. The shipwrecked sailors ran short of food and were repeatedly attacked by Malay pirates, but thanks to Maxwell's leadership there were no deaths. Eventually rescued by a British East India Company ship, the party returned to Britain as popular heroes, Maxwell being especially commended. He was knighted for his services, and made a brief and unsuccessful foray into politics before resuming his naval career. In 1831 Maxwell was appointed Lieutenant Governor of Prince Edward Island, but fell ill and died before he could take up the post.
- ^ There is some confusion over the exact date of Maxwell's death. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography states that he died on 26 June, while Fraser's Magazine and the United Services Magazine claim that he died on 19 June. Since all sources agree on the circumstances of his death, there is no accounting for the difference in date.