[1] He was promoted to midshipman in October 1798 where he followed Admiral Jervis, now Lord St. Vincent, into the ship-of-the-line HMS Ville de Paris.
[1] The boats of Medusa and the rest of the squadron under the command of Vice-Admiral Lord Nelson attempted under the cover of darkness to cut out the flotilla, however the French were prepared for the attack and repulsed it.
[2] In December 1803 Maitland left Medusa to re-join Lord St. Vincent as a supernumerary on Victory, still part of the Mediterranean Fleet.
[1][5] His command of Pique resulted in some wide-ranging travel, including service on the Downs, Lisbon, South America, and Jamaica Stations.
[3] In August 1813 Maitland had Pique off the east coast of America; he successfully chased and captured the 5-gun American privateer Hawk which surrendered without a fight.
[5] On 19 February 1816 Maitland was given command of the large frigate HMS Glasgow, in which he joined the fleet of Rear-Admiral Sir Edward Pellew on 20 July off Portsmouth, for service against Algiers.
[1][7] When the ship-of-the-line HMS Impregnable signalled to the fleet that she had suffered one hundred and fifty casualties, Maitland volunteered to divert enemy fire from her.
[9] In August 1830 he was appointed as a naval aide-de-camp to King William IV and continued as such under Queen Victoria until his promotion to flag rank.