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.

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_______________________________ 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