He was promoted commander on 29 April 1802, and commanded the ship-sloop "Argus" from June 1803 until becoming post-captain on 8 May 1804. In 1805, he took command of the sixth-rate "Ariadne". He had recently returned to "Ariadne", on blockading duty off of Gravelines, when the Dutch flotilla joining the proposed invasion of England broke out of Dunkirk on 17 July 1805, making for Boulogne. "Ariadne" and her consorts drove three or four of the thirty-two gun-vessels ashore, but they were badly outgunned by the shore forts and the four prams accompanying the gun-vessels. The "Ariadne"s squadron was joined early in the morning of the 18th by the frigate "Vestal", which had heard the firing, and they renewed the attack on the flotilla off Calais, without notable results.