Thanks, Sandy. I'm still a little befuddled; I think some of my own impressions of what I've read and heard on the matter must be a little mixed-up. If I ever find that article again, I might get straightened out.

It seems to me that sometime after writing the above anecdote about the ferry captain, I asked my uncle about it again, and he said that the black Gael in question was NOT a twin, so he was probably either the younger George Maxwell that you mention or a Maxwell of the next generation ...