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 was moved into the Neptune, the flagship of Rear-admiral Saunders, by whom, on 5 April 1761, he was appointed lieutenant of the Thunderer with Captain Proby, in which, on 17 July, he assisted in the capture of the Achille of 64 guns off Cadiz. In July 1762 he was promoted to be commander of the Wasp sloop; in October was removed to the Swift, in which he continued till April 1765, when he was posted to the Prince Edward, which ship he paid off in May 1766. He was shortly afterwards appointed to the Guadeloupe frigate, which he commanded in the Mediterranean and on the home station till 1773; and in 1774 was appointed to the Pallas, in which he was employed on the west coast of Africa till 1776; during the latter part of the period, in arresting the ships of the American colonies, which, in that out-of-the-way locality, had established a trade in powder (Cornwallis to sec. of the admiralty, Sierra Leone, 30 Jan. 1776). He then went to the West Indies, and sailed from Jamaica in September with a convoy of 104 merchant ships. Partly from bad weather, and still more from the carelessness and obstinacy of the masters, the convoy separated, and the Pallas arrived in the Channel with not more than eight or ten sail in company. The merchants, owners of the ships, made vehement complaints, and Cornwallis was compelled, in his defence, to enter into a detailed account of the misconduct of the masters, on whom the blame ultimately fell.

Early in 1777 he was appointed to the Isis of 50 guns on the North American station, with Lord Howe, by whom he was transferred for a short time to the Bristol; was then sent home in command of the Chatham, March 1778; was moved into the Medea, May 1778; and on 5 Aug. was appointed to the Lion of 64 guns. In her, in the following spring, he went out to the West Indies in charge of convoy, and arrived at St. Lucia on 3 April 1779. Here he joined Vice-admiral Byron, and took an important part in the battle of Grenada (6 July 1779). Owing to the confused way in which Byron rushed into action, the leading ships suffered severely, the Lion in an especial degree. She was almost entirely dismasted, and drifted to leeward, so that when the French fleet tacked and returned to St. George's Bay, their line cut her off from the English fleet. She ought to have proved no very difficult prize, but D'Estaing was fortunately too prudent to risk what might bring on a renewed engagement, and the Lion went off before the wind under such sail as she could set on the stumps of her lower masts. She reached Jamaica in safety, and, having refitted there, was in the following March sent, in company of the Bristol and Janus, to cruise in the windward passage. Off Monte Christi on 20 March he fell in with a French convoy under the escort of four ships of the line and a frigate, which gave chase, and in light baffling winds succeeded in overtaking and bringing him to action on the 21st. The unequal fight was maintained at intervals during the day, and was renewed the next morning; but on Cornwallis being joined by the Ruby of 64 guns and two frigates, the French drew off and rejoined the convoy. Three months later Cornwallis had been detached with a small squadron to see the West Indian trade safely through the gulf, and was on 20 June in the neighbourhood of Bermuda, when he sighted a convoy, which was in reality the fleet of transports carrying M. de Rochambeau and the French troops to North America, under the escort of nine ships of the line and a frigate, commanded by M. de Ternay. Cornwallis's force consisted of only two ships of 64 guns, and two of 50, with a 32-gun frigate; but De Ternay, probably judging that the interests at stake were too great to run any needless risk, made no serious effort to crush it, and the squadrons separated after a desultory interchange of fire (, Memoirs, v. 98, vi. 231; Mémoires de Lauzun, 1858, 327;, Liberge de Grandchain, 266–70). Towards the close of the year Cornwallis returned to England, taking with him as a passenger in the Lion Captain Horatio Nelson, who was invalided from the command of the Janus. The two had already become intimate during their stay in Jamaica, and contracted a friendship which lasted through their lives (Nelson Despatches, i. 8, 33).

In the following spring the Lion formed part of the fleet under Vice-admiral Darby at the relief of Gibraltar. Cornwallis was shortly afterwards appointed to the Canada of 74 guns, and in August sailed for North America under the orders of Rear-admiral Digby. When the attempt to relieve York had proved futile, Digby placed the Canada, together with other ships, under the command of Sir Samuel Hood, who was returning to the West Indies. Cornwallis had thus a very important share in the engagement with De Grasse at St. Kitts on 26 Jan. 1782 [see ], and afterwards took part in the actions of 9 and 12 April to leeward of Dominica. In August the Canada was ordered to England as one of the squadron under Rear-admiral Graves and a large convoy. The greater number of the men-of-war and merchant ships were overwhelmed in a violent hurricane on 16–17 Sept. (Nau-