Frederick served at several training establishments and ships for the next 18 months including HMS Black Prince, the sister ship of the famous HMS Warrior, before moving to HMS Bonaventure on the 3rd March 1898 being rated as Boy 1st Class. Bonaventure was an Astrea Class Cruiser launched in 1892 there were eight ships in the class and they were designed for service off the coast of Africa and in the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
HMS Bonaventure
Frederick was to spend the next three on HMS Bonaventure and participated in the China War of 1900 also known as the Boxer Rebellion. The Boxers were a Chinese nationalist movement which objected to foreign intervention and occupation of China. They besieged the foreign embassies in Peking and fought a multi- national force sent to relieve the capital. The British sent several warships, including Bonaventure, and landed soldiers and Naval Brigade composed of sailors and marines to assist in putting down the Boxers. Frederick did not land in China but was awarded the China War Medal for his service whilst serving in the Royal Navy off the coast of China.
Sailors from HMS Alacrity during the China War 1900
Whilst serving on HMS Bonaventure Frederick went from being a Boy Sailor to an Ordinary Seaman and then after two years being rated as an Able Seaman or Able Bodied. His time on Bonaventure came to an end when he arrived back in England on 30th August 1901. He then spent some time serving ashore at a couple of training establishments. Throughout his time as a Boy Sailor and his adult service so far Frederick's character was rated as "Very Good". By 1903 Frederick is rated as a Leading Seaman whilst serving aboard the battleship HMS Jupiter. After a short time at a shore based training depot he is serving aboard the cruiser HMS Leander as a Petty Officer 2nd Class and then nine months later he is rated as Petty Officer 1st Class. By 1905 Frederick has been in the Royal Navy for 10 years and has gone from being a "Labourer" with no experience of the sea whatsoever to a Petty Officer 1st Class.
On the 10th February 1914 whilst serving on board HMS Dido an Eclipse Class Cruiser which incidentally had also served in the China War of 1900 Frederick Maxted was awarded his Royal Navy Long Service and Good Conduct medal.
When the First World War broke out at the beginning of August 1914 Frederick was serving on board the Armoured Cruiser HMS Hogue. Hogue was a Cressy Class Cruiser and was considered obsolete by the time the war started.
HMS Hogue
On the morning of 22 September, Hogue and her sisters, Aboukir and Cressy,
were on patrol without any escorting destroyers as they had been forced
to seek shelter from bad weather. The three ships were in line abreast,
about 2,000 yards apart and were moving at a speed of 10 knots. They were not expecting any submarine activity, but they had lookouts
posted and had one gun manned on each side to attack any submarines
sighted. The weather had moderated earlier that morning and Tyrwhitt was
en route to reinforce the cruisers with eight destroyers
U-9, commanded by Kapitan Leutnant Otto Weddigen, had been ordered to attack British transports at Ostend,
but had been forced to dive and take shelter from the storm. On
surfacing, she spotted the British ships and moved to attack. She fired
one torpedo at 06:20 at Aboukir that struck her on the starboard side; the ship's captain thought he had struck a mine and ordered the other two ships to close to transfer his wounded men. Aboukir quickly began listing and capsized around 06:55. As Hogue approached her sinking sister, Captain Wilmott Nicholson realised that it had been a submarine attack and signalled Cressy to look for a periscope although his ship continued to close on Aboukir
as her crew threw overboard anything that would float to aid the
survivors in the water. Having stopped and lowered all her boats, Hogue was struck by two torpedoes around 06:55. The sudden weight loss of the two torpedoes caused U-9 to broach the surface and Hogue 's gunners opened fire without effect before the submarine could
submerge again. The cruiser capsized about ten minutes after being
torpedoed as all of her watertight doors had been open and sank at
07:15.
Cressy attempted to ram the submarine, but did not hit
anything and resumed her rescue efforts until she too was torpedoed at
07:20. She too took on a heavy list and then capsized before sinking at
07:55. Several Dutch ships began rescuing survivors at 08:30 and were
joined by British fishing trawlers before Tyrwhitt and his ships arrived
at 10:45. The combined total from all three ships was 837 men rescued
and 62 officers and 1,397 enlisted men lost. Of these, Hogue lost a total of 48 men.
Frederick Maxted was lucky enough to survive the sinking of HMS Hogue and her sister ships on the 22nd September and the very next day he was assigned to a new ship and his home for the next 2 1/2 years HMS Lowestoft. Whereas HMS Hogue had been obsolete when the war started HMS Lowestoft was one of the newest ships in the service having been launched in April 1913. She was a Town Class Cruiser and as part of the First Light Cruiser Squadron was to take part in the Battle of Dogger Bank on the 24th January 1915 when the German battleship SMS Blucher was sank. On the 24th April 1917 Frederick left HMS Lowestoft and spent the
remainder of the war ashore at training establishments and depot ships.
From the 1st July 1917 he was rated as Chief Petty Officer.
HMS Lowestoft
Frederick was discharged from the navy on 5th June 1920. Throughout his entire service of 24 years with the Royal Navy his character was rated as "Very Good" he received the China War Medal, the 1914/15 Star, British War Medal, Allied Victory Medal as well as the Royal Navy Long Service and Good Conduct Medal. Frederick was also paid a War Gratuity for his service.
Frederick died in the last quarter of 1961. He would have been 81 years old.
Frederick's China War Medal and Royal Navy Long Service & Good Conduct Medal
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