Pra River
Promoted to commodore, second class in February 1871, Commerell became Commander-in-Chief Cape of Good Hope and West Coast of Africa Station, with his broad pennant in the corvette HMS "Rattlesnake". However, in August 1873, when he was undertaking a reconnaissance up the Pra River at the start of the Third Anglo-Ashanti War, he was wounded in the lung, and had to resign his command. Advanced to Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath on 31 March 1874, he was appointed a Groom in Waiting to the Queen on 26 May 1874.