 At the end of 1770 he was appointed to the "Prudent", which had been commissioned due to the dispute between Britain and Spain about the Falkland Islands and was paid off at the end of the dispute.In late 1771 he became captain of HMS "Dorset", the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland's yacht.Lord Sandwich, First Lord of the Admiralty opposed Alexander taking up this role, seeing it as virtually a retirement from active service, to no avail (though he then prevented Alexander from re-entering active service when Alexander too came to this opinion, soon after taking up the role).