Find your ancestors in Royal Navy, H.M.S. Alceste Mission To China, 1817

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Built in 1804, HMS Alceste was originally Minerve and served in the French Navy. In 1806, she was captured by the British Royal Navy and taken into service as Alceste. Captain Murray Maxwell was given command of her and he remained her captain for much of the Alceste’s career.

In 1816, Alceste was assigned to carry William Pitt Amherst, the Ambassador extraordinary to China, on a diplomatic mission to China to establish better commercial relations with Great Britain and offer friendship, following peace in Europe. Under Murray Maxwell’s command, Alceste left Spithead on 9 Feb 1816. Amherst, Maxwell, and the crew of Alceste arrived safely at Canton on 28 July 1816. After dropping Amherst off, Maxwell knew that he had a few weeks before they had to meet him and return home so he decided to explore the area including Korea and the Ryuku Islands.

After weeks spent exploring, Maxwell knew that Alceste needed to be repaired so petitioned the viceroy of Canton for permission to travel up the Tigris to Whampoa where he could safely anchor, take on supplies and repairs, and wait for Amherst. Unfortunately, Maxwell was unaware that Amherst’s diplomatic mission had failed – the emperor of China had little interest in Europe and refused the gift from George III. Maxwell, without permission, sailed up the river under threat of being sunk. After a ‘friendly exchange of salutes’, Alceste made it to Whampoa. Amherst returned to the ship on 21 January 1817 and they departed China.

The South China Seas, with their uncharted shoals and reefs and storms, were, and still are, dangerous waters to sail in. On 18 February 1817, the Alceste grounded on one of the hidden reefs in the Java Sea. Maxwell acted quickly. He ordered for the anchor to be dropped and sent his first lieutenant Henry Parkyns Hoppner, Ameherst, and a party to an island known today as Pulo Leat to assess if it was safe to evacuate to. Over 200 survivors made it to the island but provisions were low and Maxwell knew that they had to be rescued soon. He sent Hoppner and Amherst to Java to get help.

Whilst waiting for rescue, Maxwell and his men sought out ways to survive. They planned to return to their ship to gather supplies but encountered Malay Dyak pirates who had plundered and eventually set fire to the wreck. Maxwell’s men returned to where their ship had once been and were able to retrieve flour, wine, and ale. The pirates made continuous attempts to reach the camp but the crew of the Alceste successfully defended their position.

Eventually, after weeks of waiting, a ship from the British East India Company, Ternate, arrived to rescue Maxwell and his crew. On his return to England, Maxwell stopped on St Helena and met with Napoleon. Napoleon remembered when Alceste captured a French ship and said that ‘your government must not blame you for the loss of Alceste, for you have taken one of my frigates’. Maxwell, his officers, and his crew were court martialled for the loss of the Alceste – as was the case when a ship was lost – but were exonerated. Maxwell was celebrated as a hero and was knighted in 1818.