Murray Maxwell (1775–1831) was a British Royal Navy officer who served
with distinction in the late 18th and early 19th 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
specially selected 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 marooned sailors suffered from
shortages of food and were repeatedly attacked by Malay pirates, but
thanks to Maxwell's leadership no lives were lost. Eventually rescued
by an Honourable 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.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murray_Maxwell>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1701:
Prince James Francis Edward Stuart , more commonly referred to as the
"Old Pretender", became the Jacobite claimant of the thrones of England
and Scotland.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Francis_Edward_Stuart>
1776:
American Revolutionary War: On hearing the British troops sounding
their bugles as if it were a fox hunt, the Americans held their ground
and achieved a victory at the Battle of Harlem Heights in present-day
New York City.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Harlem_Heights>
1963:
Malaya, Singapore, North Borneo (present-day Sabah), and Sarawak merged
to form Malaysia.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysia>
1982:
A Lebanese militia under the direct command of Elie Hobeika carried out
a massacre in the Palestinian refugee camp of Sabra and Shatila,
killing at least 700 civilians.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabra_and_Shatila_massacre>
1987:
The Montreal Protocol, an international treaty designed to protect the
ozone layer by phasing out the production of a number of substances
believed to be responsible for ozone depletion, opened for signature.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal_Protocol>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
festoon (v):
To hang ornaments, such as garlands or chains, which hang loosely from
two tacked spots
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/festoon>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
Descend, descend, Urania, speak
To men in their own tongue!
Leave not the breaking heart to break
Because thine own is strong.
This is the law, in dream and deed,
That heaven must walk on earth!
O, shine upon the humble creed
That holds the heavenly birth.
--Alfred Noyes
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alfred_Noyes>