Murray Maxwell - Early Career

Early Career

Murray Maxwell was born in 1775 to James and Elizabeth Maxwell; his father was a British Army officer with the 42nd Regiment of Foot (known as the "Black Watch") and the son of Sir Alexander Maxwell, second of the Maxwell Baronets of Monreith. The family lived in Penninghame in Wigtownshire, Scotland, and Murray was intended for the armed forces from an early age: six of Murray's eight brothers would also join the Army or Navy. In 1790, at the age of 14, he was sent to sea on board HMS Juno, then commanded by Samuel Hood. He had been in Juno for three years when the French Revolutionary Wars broke out, and was on board when the frigate was forced to make a desperate escape from Toulon harbour under heavy fire from French Republican batteries during the siege of the city. Later that year, he was engaged in the invasion of Corsica and the siege of Bastia, during which he made such a favourable impression that when Hood transferred to HMS Aigle in 1794, he requested that Maxwell accompany him. Maxwell was transferred again during 1794, this time to the small frigate HMS Nemesis under the command of Hood's relative Captain Samuel Hood Linzee.

In December 1795 Maxwell was taken prisoner when Nemesis was captured by a superior French force in Smyrna harbour. Despite Smyrna's neutrality, the large French frigate Sensible and the smaller corvette Sardine entered the port, followed later by the corvette Rossignol, and called on Nemesis to surrender. Linzee protested at the illegal nature of the French demands, but decided it would be futile to engage the significantly stronger force inside a neutral harbour, and complied with the French order. Maxwell was rapidly exchanged, and returned to service aboard HMS Hussar under Captain James Colnett. However, on 27 December 1796, Hussar was wrecked off Southern France, and Maxwell once again became a prisoner of war. Exchanged a second time, he joined HMS Blenheim, and later moved to HMS Princess Royal, before being made lieutenant in October 1796. Following his promotion, Maxwell was not employed at sea again until 1802. In 1798 he married the daughter of an army officer, Grace Callander Waugh.