On that occasion he commanded the guard that received
Her Majesty, and had the honour of kissing her hand. In 1775 he
was at the battle of Bunker's Hill, in which the first battalion
of marines, to which he belonged, so signally distinguished
itself, having its commanding officer, the gallant Major
Pitcairne, and a great many officers and men, killed in storming
the redoubt, besides a very large proportion wounded. In 1777 he
was adjutant of the Chatham division, and in 1784 captain of
marines on board the _Courageux_, of 74 guns, commanded by Lord
Mulgrave, and participated in the partial action that took place
with the enemy's fleet when Lord Howe relieved Gibraltar. Reduced
to half-pay at the peace of 1782, he settled at Rochester, in
Kent, and was finally appointed Judge-Advocate to the intended
settlement at Botany Bay, and in May, 1787, sailed with Governor
Phillip, who, moreover, appointed him his secretary, which
situation he filled until his return to England in 1797.
"The history of the settlement, which he soon after published,
will be read and referred to as a book of authority as long as the
colony exists whose name it bears. The appointment of
Judge-Advocate, however, eventually proved injurious to his own
interests. While absent he had been passed over when it came to
his turn to be put on full pay; nor was he permitted to return to
England to reclaim his rank in the corps, nor could he ever obtain
any effectual redress, but was afterwards compelled to come in as
a junior captain of the corps, though with his proper rank in the
army.
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