He was chaplain to George Byng, 1st Viscount Torrington, his brother-in-law, on HMS "Ranelagh", during the Battle of Málaga (1704), having previously served from 1698 in HMS "Oxford". His journal relates mainly to this naval campaign; he served as naval chaplain again, in 1711, in HMS "Union". Subsequently Pocock was rector of Danbury in Essex, from 1705. He became rector of Latchingdon, in the same county, in 1712, and also chaplain to the Royal Hospital, Greenwich in Kent (now Greater London), from 1716.