Midshipman Alexander Bain was born in Wick, N. Scotland in 1761 and entered the Royal Navy as an Able Seaman aboard H.M.S. Culloden in 1793. Advanced to the rank of Quarter-Master in the latter year, and shortly afterwards to Midshipman, he was present in the same ship at 'The Glorious First of June', the Battle of St. Vincent and at the Battle of the Nile, although in the latter action the Culloden had the misfortune to run aground on a reef as she approached the French Fleet. Bain next served in the Princess Royal, from 1800-02, but thereafter details of his appointments are sketchy.