Whilst detached from Frolic and in command of a small pinnace on 6 September 1843 Cumming and seven men boarded a Portuguese slave ship, subdued her 27-man crew and brought her back to Rio de Janeiro.

Towards the end of the war he took command of the ironclad floating battery HMS Glatton but arrived in the Black Sea after the peace had been agreed.

Cumming was appointed captain of the frigate HMS Emerald on 14 May 1859 and remained with the ship until the end of her Royal Navy career on 7 November 1863.

After her decommissioning Cumming was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath, served aboard HMS Victory and Duke of Wellington and in the Packet Service.

Cumming was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath as part of Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee celebrations on 21 June 1887 and died in London on 17 February 1893.

[3] On 14 March 1840 Cumming was appointed mate on the frigate HMS Cyclops (commanded by Horatio Thomas Austin), part of Commodore Charles John Napier's squadron sent to intervene for Britain in the Syrian War, and reached the ship in April.

[4] Great Britain, Austria, Prussia and Russia agreed to assist and issued an ultimatum to Ali demanding his withdrawal from Ottoman possessions (Arabia, Crete and Syria) in return for being made hereditary Viceroy of Egypt.

[3] On 25 September Cyclops arrived at Sidon, the main Egyptian southern division supplies depot, alongside HMS Thunderer, Gorgon, Wasp, Stromboli, Hydra, SMS Guerriera (Austrian) and Gulfideh (Ottoman).

[3] Cumming transferred to HMS Princess Charlotte, a first-rate ship of the line commanded by Arthur Fanshawe and flagship of Robert Stopford, Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet, on 28 November 1840.

[2] Britannia, commanded by Michael Seymour, was another first-rate and the new flagship of the Mediterranean Fleet, John Ommanney having succeeded Stopford as Commander-in-Chief.

[5] Frolic was posted to South America and on 6 September 1843 Cumming was cruising off Santos, São Paulo, in command of the ship's pinnace, when he encountered the large brigantine Portuguese slaver Vincedora in company with two other slaving vessels.

[1] With their captain killed the crew were thrown into confusion and Cumming was able to board the vessel, followed by a marine and six sailors – all that could fit on the deck at the time.

[6] The ships set sail for Rio de Janeiro, arriving there on 10 September when the slaves were transferred to the hulk Crescent under the supervision of Sir Thomas Paisley.

[1] However the event was reported to London merely as the commonplace capture of a slaver and hence merited no reward, a fact that Cumming resented for the rest of his life.

[2] Cumming was posted to the brig HMS Espiegle on 2 October 1844, serving under Captain Thomas Pickering Thompson [8] in the East Indies until 27 March 1845.

[2] On 29 April Cumming transferred to the first-rate HMS Queen, under the command of Baldwin Wake Walker and the flagship of John West in Devonport.

[1] His first command was HMS Rattler, a 12-gun sloop that had been the first warship powered by a steam engine and screw propeller, that he captained from 12 February 1849 to 15 April 1851 on the west coast of Africa.

[1][7] Cumming returned to England in 1855 and on 22 May was appointed to HMS Glatton, an ironclad floating battery with orders to sail her to the Black Sea.

[2] Cumming was appointed captain of the 51-gun frigate HMS Emerald on her commissioning at Sheerness on 14 May 1859 and remained with the ship until the end of her Royal Navy career on 7 November 1863.

[13] Emerald left Devonport on 18 February and arrived at Bermuda 19 days and 6 hours later, completing "one of the quickest passages on record" at the time.

[12] The feat is all the more impressive for the fact that Cumming relied almost entirely on sail power, engaging the steam engines only when he was within 500 nautical miles (930 km) of her destination.

[12] On his return Cumming was again ordered to America, transporting guns, shot and stores to the West India Squadron, but was hit by storms off Newfoundland and forced to turn back to Plymouth.

[17] Cumming was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath as part of Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee celebrations on 21 June 1887.

[1] Cumming became an early victim of identity theft on 27 March 1888 when a man impersonating him stole goods worth 100,000 francs (equivalent to approximately £563,000 in current terms) from a Nice jewellery shop.

Having made a small purchase the thief requested that Boxta bring a large quantity of diamond rings, bracelets and a necklace to his rooms so that he could choose a present for his wife.