Frederick Lewis Maitland ( Royal Navy officer ) Rear Admiral Sir Frederick Lewis Maitland , KCB ( 7 September 1777 – 30 November 1839 ) was an officer in the Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars . He rose to the rank of rear admiral and held a number of commands . The most famous event of his career occurred when Napoleon Bonaparte surrendered to him aboard , marking the final end of the Napoleonic Wars . Family and early life . Maitland was born at Rankeilour , Fife on 7 September 1777 , as the third son of Frederick Lewis Maitland ( 1730 – 1786 ) , himself a distinguished naval officer . Several other members of Maitland ' s family were serving officers in the army , including his uncle , General Sir Alexander Maitland , 1st Baronet and his cousin , General Frederick Maitland ( 1763 – 1848 ) . Having received an education at the Royal High School , Edinburgh , Maitland followed his father into the Navy , spending his first years aboard the sloop , under Captain George Duff , followed by a period aboard the frigate with Robert Forbes . Whilst aboard " Southampton " , Maitland was present at the Glorious First of June in 1794 . Promotion to lieutenant . Maitland was promoted to lieutenant on 3 April 1795 and appointed to . He soon moved to , which was then in the North Sea , serving as the flagship of Admiral Adam Duncan . Maitland then moved to the Mediterranean in April 1797 , joining the fleet under John Jervis , Lord St Vincent . Jervis appointed him to the sloop . Maitland was part of several successful cruises , and assisted in the capturing of several privateer s . He quickly became noted for his courage , and the ships ' company subscribed £50 to present him with a sword . He did not spend long with " Kingfisher " though , as she was wrecked on 3 December 1798 as she was leaving the Tagus . Maitland had been in temporary command at the time , and received the customary court - martial . He was honourably acquitted and appointed to serve at Gibraltar as flag lieutenant to Lord St Vincent . A spell in captivity and first commands . The combined fleets of France and Spain were retiring from the Mediterranean by mid - 1799 , and on 7 July St Vincent ordered Maitland to go aboard the hired armed cutter " Penelope " with orders for her to carry out reconnaissance on the enemy fleets , as St Vincent put it , ‘ to go , count and dodge them ’ . When Maitland arrived however , he found the " Penelope ' s " lieutenant was sick and unable to take command . Maitland took over instead and attempted to follow his orders . He was apparently hampered by the cowardice and disobedience of the crew of the cutter , and the next day the Spanish captured " Penelope " and brought her into Cadiz as a prize . There Maitland met the Spanish admiral , Mazaredo . Mazeredo discovered that Maitland was Lord St Vincent ' s flag lieutenant . Being under an obligation to St Vincent , Mazaredo set Maitland free and returned him to Gibraltar without requesting an exchange . On his return , St Vincent promoted Maitland to commander and gave him the sloop , with the promotion being backdated to 14 June . Maitland commanded her off the coast of Egypt , under Sir Sidney Smith until the signing of the convention of al - ' Arish on 24 January 1800 . Maitland was sent home overland with dispatches , but quickly returned to his command . He spent the rest of 1800 aboard the " Cameleon " , before Lord Keith moved him to the command of the storeship . The " Wassenar " was at that time moored at Malta , and had been deemed unfit for service . Maitland was given permission instead to accompany the expedition to Egypt . He was appointed to command the boats that were covering the landings and acquitted himself well . He then moved to support the army ' s right flank during operations on 13 March , and at the Battle of Alexandria on 21 March 1801 . His service was specially acknowledged by the commanders - in - chief , and he was mentioned in Sidney Smith ' s report . These actions caused him to be rewarded with a promotion to post rank , dated to 21 March . He temporarily took command of the 74 - gun , but had moved to command HMS " Carrère " in August . He returned with her to England , and she was paid off in October 1802 . Further action . Maitland married Catherine , the second daughter of Daniel Connor of Ballybricken , County Cork in April 1804 . They had only one child , which died in infancy . By this time Maitland ' s patron St Vincent had been made first lord of the Admiralty . With the outbreak of war he appointed Maitland to the 38 - gun HMS " Loire " , which Maitland sailed off the west coast of France and the north coast of Spain . Maitland spent three years with the " Loire " , during which time he captured or destroyed a number of privateers and coastal batteries . He was involved in a particularly heroic action on 4 June 1805 in Muros Bay , south of Cape Finisterre , for which he received the thanks of the City of London , the freedom of Cork , and a sword from the Patriotic Fund . He also took part in the capture of the French frigate " Libre " on 24 December 1805 . His next command was the 36 - gun , which he took up in November 1806 . The service was the same as the " Loire ' s " , and Maitland continued his successes aboard her . He was at the Battle of the Basque Roads in April 1809 , but due to the confusion was one of those ships that were not sent in until 12 April . Aboard the " Bellerophon " . Maitland was given command of the 58 - gun between 1813 and 1814 , and was sent aboard her to the Halifax and West Indian stations . He was appointed to the 98 - gun in November 1814 and ordered to sail to North America . Maitland spent the early part of 1815 gathering a fleet of transports and merchants in Cork harbour in preparation for crossing the Atlantic , but found himself unable to set sail due to a succession of strong westerly winds . Before he could sail , news reached England of Napoleon ' s escape from Elba and his return as Emperor of the French . Maitland ' s orders were immediately countermanded , and he was moved to the 74 - gun . He sailed aboard her from Plymouth on 24 May , under the orders of Sir Henry Hotham . The " Bellerophon " was stationed off Rochefort in the Bay of Biscay , watching the French warships in the harbour . Whilst the " Bellerophon " was off Rochefort , Napoleon was defeated at the Battle of Waterloo . News of this reached Maitland on 28 June , followed by a letter from Bordeaux that warned him that Napoleon was planning an escape to America from the French Atlantic coast , probably from Bordeaux . Maitland believed that Rochefort was the more likely point of escape , but took the precaution of sending two smaller craft to cover other ports , one to Bordeaux , and another to Arcachon . He kept the " Bellerophon " herself off Rochefort . Hotham was aboard covering Quiberon Bay , whilst a string of British frigates , corvette s , and brig s were watching all along the coast . Hotham told Maitland that should he intercept Bonaparte , he was to take the former emperor to England . Maitland and Napoleon . Maitland ' s instincts proved correct , and Napoleon arrived at Rochefort in early July . By this time , he was in an untenable position . He could no longer remain in France without risking arrest ; indeed , Prussian troops had orders to capture him dead or alive . However , the " Bellerophon " and the rest of Hotham ' s fleet were blocking every port . He therefore authorised the opening of negotiations with Maitland . The negotiations opened on 10 July . Maitland refused to allow Napoleon to sail for America , but offered to take him to England instead . The negotiations went on for four days , but eventually Napoleon acquiesced . He surrendered to Maitland on 15 July and embarked the " Bellerophon " with his staff and servants . Maitland placed his cabin at the former emperor ' s disposal and sailed the " Bellerophon " to England . She reached Torbay on 24 July , but was ordered to Plymouth , whilst a decision was made by the government over Bonaparte ' s fate . She sailed again on 4 August and whilst off Berry Head on 7 August , Napoleon and his staff were removed to , which conveyed him to his final exile on Saint Helena . Maitland later wrote a detailed Narrative of Bonaparte ' s time on the " Bellerophon " , which he subsequently published in 1826 . Royal duties and rise to rear admiral . Maitland took command of the 74 - gun in October 1818 , and in 1819 sailed her to South America . He took Lord George Beresford from Rio de Janeiro to Lisbon in 1820 , and then returned to the Mediterranean . He then carried Ferdinand I , king of the Two Sicilies from Naples to Livorno . The passage was rough and lasted seven days , but they arrived safely on 20 December . As a token of gratitude the king invested Maitland with the insignia of a knight commander of the Order of St Ferdinand and Merit , and presented him with his portrait , set with diamonds , in a gold box . Maitland then returned to England , and was appointed to command the 74 - gun , the guardship at Portsmouth . He spent three years aboard her , leaving her in August 1823 . He commanded in the Mediterranean between 1827 and 1830 , and was promoted to Rear Admiral of the Blue on 22 July 1830 , and Rear Admiral of the Red on 10 January 1837 . He had been appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath ( CB ) on the restructuring of the Order in 1815 , and on 17 November 1830 he was advanced to Knight Commander ( KCB ) . He was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of the County of Fife on 5 March 1831 . Indian service . He was admiral superintendent of the dockyard at Portsmouth between 1832 and 1837 . He was appointed commander - in - chief in the East Indies and China Station in July 1837 , and raised his flag in the " Wellesley " again . He co - operated with the army during its advance from Bombay towards Afghanistan in February 1839 , and captured the town and fort of Karachi , going on to oversee the landing of troops and supplies . News then reached him of disturbances at Bushehr , so he set off to investigate . He landed Marines and evacuated the resident and his staff , without punishing the rioters . The Anglo - Indian press subsequently criticized this action as being injudiciously lenient . Death . Maitland died on 30 November 1839 whilst at sea on board the " Wellesley " , off Bombay . He was buried at Bombay . A monument was later erected by subscription to his memory in the cathedral . His wife , Lady Maitland , died in 1865 at Lindores , Fife .