Lieutenant James Grant Raymond entered the Royal Navy as a Midshipman aboard H.M.S. Loire in May 1812 and immediately saw active service in the War with the United States. Next appointed to H.M.S. Superb, he was present at the bombardment of Algiers in August 1816, on which occasion he was employed as a Volunteer in one of the Superb's Rocket Boats. Advanced to Lieutenant in March 1828, Raymond passed the next 20 years variously employed with the Coast Guard or as an Agent aboard Revenue Vessels or Mail Steam Ships, but latterly gained his own command, the Steam-packet Medusa. In 1854, however, he returned to more regular service with the Naval Transport Service in the Crimea.