Rear-Admiral Rear admiral is a flag officer rank used by English-speaking navies. In most European navies, the equivalent rank is called counter admiral. Rear admiral is usually immediately senior to commodore and immediately below vice admiral. It is ...

George Murray, 6th Lord Elibank (died 11 November 1785) was a British naval officer. He joined the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

in the early 1720s and fought in the Battle of Porto Bello in 1739 as a

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

on board the

ship of the line A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactics in the Age of Sail, naval tactic known as the line of battl ...

HMS ''Hampton Court''. Murray was promoted to

commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countri ...

in 1740 and given command of the sloop HMS ''Tryall'' to take part in George Anson's voyage around the world. A series of illnesses and deaths in Anson's squadron meant that by early 1741 Murray had been promoted to

post captain Post-captain or post captain is an obsolete alternative form of the rank of captain in the Royal Navy. The term "post-captain" was descriptive only; it was never used as a title in the form "Post-Captain John Smith". The term served to di ...

and given command of the

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and maneuvera ...

HMS ''Pearl''. ''Pearl'' and another ship lost contact with Anson in April of that year and after taking heavy damage and casualties through storms and sickness, sought safety in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

before sailing for England. Murray continued in the navy after this, receiving a number of different commands including the ship of the line HMS ''Hampshire'' in which he served in the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

and

English Channel The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...

. While in command of the ship of the line HMS ''Duke'' in 1756 he retired from active naval service. He was promoted as a superannuated rear-admiral shortly after this. He inherited the title Lord Elibank when his elder brother died in 1778.

Early life

George Murray was born the second son of

Alexander Murray, 4th Lord Elibank Alexander () is a male name of Greek origin. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are A ...

and his wife Elizabeth.Charnock, ''Biographia Navalis'', p. 51.

Naval career

Early service

Murray joined the

as a volunteer on board the

HMS ''Lyme'' on 8 January in either 1721 or 1722. He was promoted to

midshipman A midshipman is an officer of the lowest Military rank#Subordinate/student officer, rank in the Royal Navy, United States Navy, and many Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth navies. Commonwealth countries which use the rank include Royal Cana ...

on ''Lyme'' on 9 January in either 1723 or 1724 before passing his examination for

on 2 February in the following year. His first appointment as a lieutenant came when he was assigned as fourth lieutenant of the

HMS ''Orford'' at the

Nore The Nore is a long sandbank, bank of sand and silt running along the south-centre of the final narrowing of the Thames Estuary, England. Its south-west is the very narrow Nore Sand. Just short of the Nore's easternmost point where it fades int ...

on 5 May 1727, where he served until 31 July 1728.Syrett and DiNardo, ''Commissioned Sea Officers of the Royal Navy'', p. 326.Winfield, ''British Warships'', p. 248. On 1 August he was appointed second lieutenant of the frigate HMS ''Ludlow Castle'' on board which he served for over a year completing "secret service" duties, leaving on 13 September 1729 when she was

paid off Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to placing a warship i ...

.Winfield, ''British Warships'', p. 791. After a short period ashore Murray was again employed, this time as third lieutenant of the frigate HMS ''Princess Louisa'' in the

from 8 July 1730 until 2 July 1731, when he transferred to the ship of the line HMS ''Captain'' as her second lieutenant, initially still in the Mediterranean but from July 1732 in the

.Winfield, ''British Warships'', p.796.Winfield, ''British Warships'', p.256. Murray stayed in ''Captain'' until 5 March 1735 or 1736, although he had been relegated to third lieutenant in June 1732, when he moved to become third lieutenant of the ship of the line HMS ''Princess Caroline'' serving in Admiral of the Fleet Sir John Norris' fleet off the

Tagus The Tagus ( ; ; ) is the longest river in the Iberian Peninsula. The river rises in the Montes Universales between Cuenca and Teruel, in mid-eastern Spain, flows , generally westward, and empties into the Atlantic Ocean in Lisbon. Name T ...

.Winfield, ''British Warships'', p. 199. On 9 December 1737 Murray became second lieutenant of the ship of the line HMS ''Hampton Court'' which sailed for the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

in 1738 as the

flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of navy, naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically ...

of Commodore Charles Brown.Winfield, ''British Warships'', p. 247. As such Murray participated in ''Hampton Court'' in the Battle of Porto Bello on 20 November 1739; she created so much smoke from the frequent firing of her guns at a

gun battery In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit or multiple systems of artillery, mortar systems, rocket artillery, multiple rocket launchers, surface-to-surface missiles, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, etc., so grouped to facil ...

that the other ships of the fleet at one point thought she was on fire.Phillips
''Hampton Court'' (70) (1709)
Michael Phillips' Ships of the Old Navy. Retrieved 8 August 2021.Harrison, ''Royal Navy Officers of the Seven Years War'', p. 359. Murray was promoted to

on 24 July 1740 and given command of the sloop HMS ''Tryall'' in August.Winfield, ''British Warships'', p. 1402. ''Tryall'' joined the squadron of Commodore George Anson which was sent to the

South Seas Today the term South Seas, or South Sea, most commonly refers to the portion of the Pacific Ocean south of the equator. The term South Sea may also be used synonymously for Oceania, or even more narrowly for Polynesia or the Polynesian Triangle ...

for Anson's voyage around the world.Charnock, ''Biographia Navalis'', p. 52. They sailed from England on 18 September.''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', "Anson, George, Baron Anson".

Post-captain

On 3 November 1740 the squadron arrived at

Madeira Madeira ( ; ), officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira (), is an autonomous Regions of Portugal, autonomous region of Portugal. It is an archipelago situated in the North Atlantic Ocean, in the region of Macaronesia, just under north of ...

and the captain of the ship of the line HMS ''Gloucester'' left to return to England; this resulted in a series of promotions to fill the vacancy and Murray was promoted to

post-captain Post-captain or post captain is an obsolete alternative form of the rank of captain in the Royal Navy. The term "post-captain" was descriptive only; it was never used as a title in the form "Post-Captain John Smith". The term served to dis ...

and given command of the frigate HMS ''Wager''. Murray transferred to command the larger frigate HMS ''Pearl'' on 19 February of the next year after her captain, who Murray had previously succeeded in ''Wager'', died while the squadron was sailing to the coast of

Patagonia Patagonia () is a geographical region that includes parts of Argentina and Chile at the southern end of South America. The region includes the southern section of the Andes mountain chain with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and glaciers ...

.Phillips
''Pearl'' (42) (1726)
Michael Phillips' Ships of the Old Navy. Retrieved 8 August 2021. The squadron continued southwards but after considerable difficulty in sailing, ''Pearl'' and the ship of the line HMS ''Severn'' were forced to leave the squadron after losing sight of it completely on 10 April, around the

Le Maire Strait The Le Maire Strait (; ), also known as the Straits Lemaire, is a strait between Isla de los Estados ("Staten Island") and the eastern extremity of the Argentine portion of Tierra del Fuego. History Jacob Le Maire and Willem Schouten discov ...

. The two ships entered

on 6 June after having battled through a large storm for forty days and having lost a large number of crew members to

scurvy Scurvy is a deficiency disease (state of malnutrition) resulting from a lack of vitamin C (ascorbic acid). Early symptoms of deficiency include weakness, fatigue, and sore arms and legs. Without treatment, anemia, decreased red blood cells, gum d ...

and fatigue. They then sailed to

Barbados Barbados, officially the Republic of Barbados, is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and the easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American ...

, arriving on 5 February 1742 from where they sailed to England without further mishap. ''Pearl'' was ordered to be

broken up Ship breaking (also known as ship recycling, ship demolition, ship scrapping, ship dismantling, or ship cracking) is a type of ship disposal involving the breaking up of ships either as a source of Interchangeable parts, parts, which can be sol ...

on 22 April 1743, leaving Murray without a command.Winfield, ''British Warships'', p. 792. Murray was next appointed to command the ship of the line HMS ''Hampshire'' on 6 October, in which he was sent to serve in the Mediterranean. Murray and ''Hampshire'' served in a squadron stationed off

Cape Ortegal Ortegal is a ''comarca'' in the north of the Galician Province of A Coruña, Spain. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Cantabrian Sea to the north, the Province of Lugo Lugo is a province (Spain), province of northwestern Spain, in the nor ...

and there he captured the Spanish

privateer A privateer is a private person or vessel which engages in commerce raiding under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign o ...

''Nuestra Senora del Rosario'' on 22 December before transferring to Norris' fleet in the Channel in 1744.Winfield, ''British Warships'', p. 703. Some time after this ''Hampshire'' returned to the Mediterranean and in January 1745 Murray was one of the presiding captains in the

court martial A court-martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of members of the mili ...

at Mahon of Captain Richard Norris, who had absconded from his post in 1744.Syrett and DiNardo, ''Commissioned Sea Officers of the Royal Navy'', p. 333. He left ''Hampshire'' in May and instead joined the ship of the line HMS ''Revenge'' as her temporary captain between 28 May 1745 and 17 November 1748; he did not serve at sea again until 7 May 1755 when he was given command of the newly captured ship of the line HMS ''Trydent''.Winfield, ''British Warships'', p. 274. He then recommissioned the ship of the line HMS ''Duke'' on 23 September 1755, but this command came to an end on 15 June 1756 when Murray chose to retire from active service in the navy.Winfield, ''British Warships'', p. 130.

Flag rank

Murray became a superannuated

rear-admiral Rear admiral is a flag officer rank used by English-speaking navies. In most European navies, the equivalent rank is called counter admiral. Rear admiral is usually immediately senior to commodore and immediately below vice admiral. It is ...

on 16 July 1756, providing him with the rank of rear-admiral but without the ability to be further promoted or to hold commands at sea as an admiral. In 1778 his elder brother

Patrick Patrick may refer to: *Patrick (given name), list of people and fictional characters with this name * Patrick (surname), list of people with this name People *Saint Patrick (c. 385–c. 461), Christian saint * Gilla Pátraic (died 1084), Patrick ...

died, leaving him to inherit his title as Lord Elibank.Charnock, ''Biographia Navalis'', p. 53.

Death

Murray died at Ballinerig, Scotland, on 11 November 1785.

Family

Murray married Isabella, the daughter of George Mackenzie, 3rd Earl of Cromartie. They had two children:Burke, ''A General and heraldic dictionary'', p. 431. * Maria Murray-Mackenzie who married Colonel Lord Edward Hay, brother of

George Hay, 8th Marquess of Tweeddale Field marshal (United Kingdom), Field Marshal George Hay, 8th Marquess of Tweeddale, (1 February 1787 – 10 October 1876), Hereditary Chamberlain of Dunfermline, was a British people, British soldier and administrator. He served as a staff off ...

* Isabella Murray-Mackenzie Not having a son, Murray's title passed to his nephew

Alexander Alexander () is a male name of Greek origin. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here ar ...

upon his death.

Notes and citations

Notes

Citations

References

* * Burke, John (1832). ''A General and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire, Vol. I.'' London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley. * Charnock, John (1797). ''Biographia Navalis, or, Impartial Memoirs of the Lives and Characters of Officers of the Navy of Great Britain, from the Year 1660 to the Present Time Volume 5.'' Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. . * Harrison, Cy (2019). ''Royal Navy Officers of the Seven Years War: A Biographical Dictionary of Commissioned Officers 1748-1763.'' Warwick: Helion and Company. . * Syrett, David and R.L. DiNardo (1994). ''The Commissioned Sea Officers of the Royal Navy 1660-1815.'' Aldershot: Scholar Press. . *

External links

Ships of the Old Navy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Murray, George, 6th Lord Elibank 1785 deaths Royal Navy personnel of the War of the Austrian Succession Royal Navy rear admirals