A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Maynard, Thomas
MAYNARD. (Retired Captain, 1840. f-p., 22; h-p., 45.)
Thomas Maynard entered the Navy, 11 May, 1780, as First-Lieutenant’s Servant, on board the Medea 28, Capt. Jas. Montagu, and, until discharged towards the close of the same year, was employed on the Guernsey station. Rejoining Capt. Montagu in 1781, on board the Juno 32, he cruized for a few months off the coast of Ireland, and then proceeded to the East Indies, where he arrived in time to participate in the last of Sir Edw. Hughes’s actions with M. de Suffrein, 20 June, 1783. Returning to Europe in 1785, he served during the six following years on the Home station, chiefly as Midshipman, in the Culloden 74, Capts. Rowland Cotton and Sir Thos. Rich, Ardent 64, Capt. Sir Fras. Hartwell, and Colossus 74, Capts. Henry Harvey and Hugh Cloberry Christian. He next, at the commencement of the French revolutionary war, became Master’s Mate of the Sampson 64, Capt. Robt. Montagu, lying at Plymouth; and in Jan. 1794 and Jan. 1795, he was successively constituted Master of the Amphion 32, and Nassau 64, commanded, on the Newfoundland and North Sea stations, by Capt. Herbert Sawyer. He was made Lieutenant, 5 July, 1796, into the Seagull sloop, Capt. Henry Wray, attached to the force in the North Sea; and was afterwards appointed – 8 Sept. 1798, to the Boston 32, Capt. John Erskine Douglas, under whom, besides serving off Havre and visiting the West Indies, he was for a whole year employed in blockading the Sémillante, a French frigate of far superior force, in the Chesapeake – in 1802-3, to the Research 18 and Chichester 44, the latter commanded by Capt. Joseph Spear, under whom he brought troops home from Halifax – and, in 1804, to the Crescent frigate, Capt. Lord Wm. Stuart, employed off Flushing, in attendance upon the King off Weymouth, and off the Black Rocks at Brest. In all the above ships Mr. Maynard filled the post of Lieutenant. He acquired the rank of Commander 12 Jan. 1805; and retired with that of Captain 17 Oct. 1840.
Capt. Maynard is a Commissioner of Lighthouses. His third daughter, Charlotte, is the wife of Lieut. Walter F. Robinson, R.N. Agents – Messrs. Stilwell.