His first action as a post-captain was to take command of the recently captured Spanish ship of the line "Guipuscoano" as HMS "Prince William". In January 1781 he took command of the brand new post ship and sailed to join the squadron of Sir Samuel Hood in the Leeward Islands. As such he participated in the Battle of Saint Kitts in January 1782 where after the French fleet had been repulsed, his was one of four ships that covered the landings of the invasion itself. Continuing in Hood's squadron, "Eurydice" and Wilson were thus participants in the Battle of the Saintes between 9 and 12 April, where the French admiral François Joseph Paul de Grasse was finally captured. After having made a trip back to England with dispatches Wilson returned and was appointed to the command of the ship of the line in either April or May, staying with Hood's squadron to cruise off Hispaniola to observe the remaining enemy forces. On 21 July "Fame" and Wilson sailed to America to wait out the hurricane months with the fleet of Admiral Hugh Pigot. Wilson stayed at New York between 5 September and 24 October before returning to the Leeward Islands. He continued there until the American Revolutionary War began to end, paying off "Fame" in July 1783.