 This marked the end of his formal education.In 1780, he was involuntarily sent to sea as a midshipman on the third-rate HMS "Ariadne".He was transferred to the 28-gun fifth-rate frigate HMS "Desperate", in 1781 and participated in the Battle of the Chesapeake, the Siege of Yorktown, the evacuation of Loyalist families from Wilmington, North Carolina, and the Battle of St. Kitts.