Tayler was promoted to lieutenant on 29 April 1802, and on 18 October 1803 he was appointed to the 50-gun fourth-rate , serving in her under Captains James Nicoll Morris, Francis William Austen, and Richard Raggett. "Leopard" was part of the squadron stationed off Boulogne during Napoleon's planned invasion, and Tayler assisted in the capture of seven French gun-vessels. In October 1804 he was present at the Raid on Boulogne when the British used Robert Fulton's catamaran-torpedoes in an attempt to attack the French invasion fleet. On 30 March 1806 "Leopard" sailed from St Helens, Isle of Wight, with orders to escort six Indiamen as far as the Cape Verde islands. At 2 a.m. on 20 April one of the convoy, the "Lady Burgess", struck Laten's Level, a rocky reef near Santiago. At daylight it was seen that her masts had fallen, and that the sea was breaking over her. Tayler volunteered to take a boat to her assistance. He contrived to throw a block attached to a rope over the stump of her bowsprit, and rescued 21 people before she broke up; nine more people were rescued from the sea. Two of the Indiaman's boats had already escaped with the captain and several others aboard; but 38 were lost. On 19 August 1806 Tayler transferred to the under Captain Richard Raggett, for passage home from Halifax, Nova Scotia.