Entered the naval service in 1776; received his first commission in May 1782; and was wrecked on Yarmouth Sands, while commanding the Mastiff gun-brig, Jan. 5, 1800. Being honorably acquitted of all blame on that occasion, he was immediately afterwards appointed to the Kent 74, bearing the flag of Lord Duncan; and at a subsequent period to command the Saxe Cobourg cutter, on the North Sea station, in which vessel he continued until his promotion to the rank of Commander, in Jan. 1801, During the remainder of the French revolutionary war he successively commanded the Volcano ​