From the Andromeda, Lieutenant Maitland removed into the Venerable 74, bearing the flag of Admiral Duncan; with whom he continued till April 1797, when he proceeded to the Mediterranean station, for the purpose of joining Earl St. Vincent, who, out of friendship for his deceased father, had kindly offered to promote him whenever an opportunity should occur. The flag-ship having her full complement of officers, Mr. Maitland was appointed first Lieutenant of the Kingsfisher sloop of war, in which vessel he assisted at the capture of many privateers belonging to the enemy; one of which, la Betsey, a ship of 16 guns and 118 men, defended herself with considerable bravery, and had 9 of her people killed and wounded. Upon the prize-money for this vessel being distributed, the Kingsfisher’s crew subscribed 50l. to purchase Lieutenant Maitland a sword, in token of their respect and esteem.
In Dec. 1798, the Kingsfisher was wrecked at the entrance of the Tagus, when proceeding to sea under the temporary command of Lieutenant Maitland[1], who on his arrival at Gibraltar was tried by a court-martial, and honorably acquitted of all blame on the occasion of her loss. Immediately after his trial he was appointed Flag-Lieutenant to Earl St. Vincent, who had about that period taken up his residence on the rock.
In June 1799, the French and Spanish fleets, amounting to forty sail of the line, and upwards of thirty frigates and smaller vessels, formed a junction at Carthagena, and on the 7th July were seen from Gibraltar close in with the Barbary shore. The Earl, then on the eve of his departure for England, sent Lieutenant Maitland in the Penelope armed cutter, to reconnoitre them. Anxious to gain the most accurate information, he stretched across the Gut with very light winds during the night, and at day-break on the 8th found himself nearly within gun-shot of the enemy’s advanced ships, whose boats were instantly ordered, by signal from the Spanish Admiral Mazzaredo, to tow the Vivo, a brig of 16 guns, alongside the Penelope; but the reception she met with was such as induced her soon to drop astern again. A breeze now springing up, the N. S. del Carmen frigate, mounting 42 guns,
