Holloway was soon appointed to command of the 80-gun , and was stationed off the Texel under Admiral Howe. He next commanded the "Buffalo", attached to Howe's fleet that sailed for the relief of Gibraltar on 11 September 1782. On 11 October the convoy reached the Strait of Gibraltar, but strong winds meant that only four storeships reached the anchorage; the rest passed into the Mediterranean. On the 13th the combined fleets of France and Spain set sail from Algeciras, and Howe ordered Holloway to take the storeships either to the Chafarinas Islands off Morocco, or to Oristano in Sardinia, should they be driven past Cape Tres Forcas, and to use his own judgement in bringing them back to the besieged fortress. After two days "Buffalo" fell in with four enemy ships off the Barbary coast, and only narrowly escaped being captured. One storeship was captured that night, but the rest escaped in the darkness. Finally, after five or six days, the storeships returned to the British fleet at Gibraltar. "Nauticus Junior", the anonymous author of "Naval Atlantis", published in 1789, severely criticized Howe for selecting the "Buffalo" for this duty noting that she had been stationed as flagship in the Downs for some time as she was considered unfit for sea, and was seriously undermanned. Nevertheless, "Buffalo" took her place in the line of battle in the action against the enemy fleet off Cape Spartel on 20 October, having 6 men killed and 16 wounded.