Commodore

Commodore (Royal Navy)

Commodore is a rank of the Royal Navy above Captain and below Rear Admiral. It has a NATO ranking code of OF-6. The rank is equivalent to Brigadier in the British Army and Royal Marines and to Air Commodore in the Royal Air Force.-Insignia:...

 Rochfort Maguire (Died 29 June 1867) was a Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 officer who served as Captain of HMS Plover from 1852 to 1853 during the Franklin Search Expedition.

Biography

Maguire joined the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 in 1830. He came to notice when he was wounded in action in 1840 at Sidon

Sidon

Sidon or Saïda is the third-largest city in Lebanon. It is located in the South Governorate of Lebanon, on the Mediterranean coast, about 40 km north of Tyre and 40 km south of the capital Beirut. In Genesis, Sidon is the son of Canaan the grandson of Noah...

 whilst serving on HMS Wasp under Sir Charles Napier. He was mentioned in despatches and as a result he was promoted to Lieutenant on HMS Vernon in the Mediterranean. Maguire was assigned to the Franklin search expedition. They sailed out of Plymouth

Plymouth

Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...

, England in 1848 on a mission to find the lost remains of John Franklin

John Franklin

Rear-Admiral Sir John Franklin KCH FRGS RN was a British Royal Navy officer and Arctic explorer. Franklin also served as governor of Tasmania for several years. In his last expedition, he disappeared while attempting to chart and navigate a section of the Northwest Passage in the Canadian Arctic...

's Northwest Passage

Northwest Passage

The Northwest Passage is a sea route through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways amidst the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans...

 Expedition of 1845. Maguire was made Captain of HMS Plover from 1852 to 1854. Promoted to Captain

Captain (naval)

Captain is the name most often given in English-speaking navies to the rank corresponding to command of the largest ships. The NATO rank code is OF-5, equivalent to an army full colonel....

 in 1855, he was given command of HMS Sans Pareil

HMS Sans Pareil (1851)

HMS Sans Pareil was a 70-gun screw propelled ship of the line of the Royal Navy.-Planning and construction:Sans Pareil was initially designed as an 80-gun second rate, to the lines of the earlier HMS Sans Pareil, a French prize captured in 1794. She was ordered on 27 February 1843 and laid down on...

, HMS Impérieuse

HMS Imperieuse (1852)

HMS Imperieuse was a wooden screw frigate launched in 1852 and sold in 1867.In particular it was used in the Second Opium War. Many received the China Medal afterwards....

, HMS Chesapeake

HMS Chesapeake (1855)

HMS Chesapeake was a Royal Navy screw-propelled 51-gun frigate launched in 1855, with a crew of 510 men. She saw action during the Second Opium War and there is a memorial to her losses at Southsea, near Portsmouth. She was the flagship of the British China Squadron in 1861.Admiral of the Fleet,...

 and then HMS Galatea

HMS Galatea (1859)

HMS Galatea was an Ariadne class 26-gun sixth rate wooden screw frigate launched in 1859 and broken up 1883. In 1866 she went on a world cruise, under the command of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh....

. He became Commander-in-Chief, Australian Station in 1866 before retiring the following year on health grounds. He died in Haslar

Royal Hospital Haslar

The Royal Hospital Haslar in Gosport, Hampshire, England was one of several hospitals serving the Portsmouth Urban Area. The Royal Hospital Haslar officially closed as the last military hospital in the UK in 2007...

in June 1867.