 In 1596 he served at the Capture of Cadiz under Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex and was knighted.In June 1597 he was licensed to travel abroad for two years with his brother-in-law Thomas Sackville, son of Lord Buckhurst, later Earl of Dorset.Buckhurst and Nevill owned several iron foundries between them, and by December 1596 they had a patent which gave them a monopoly in the production of ordinance.