In November he was at Boston, where, by pressing some seamen contrary to colonial custom, he got into a troublesome dispute, ending in a serious fray, in which two men were killed.

After a short conference with his colleagues, Captains Maurice Suckling and William Langdon said to have lasted just half a minute Forrest determined on attempting to carry out his orders, and bore down on the enemy.

In the ensuing battle the British managed to disable several French ships, but were outnumbered and too badly damaged to press an attack, and after two hours of fighting, each side drew off and returned to their respective ports.

After a few months with the fleet in the Bay of Biscay, he went out to the Jamaica Station,[2] where, by the death of Rear-Admiral Charles Holmes in November 1761, he was left senior officer.

On this he moved into HMS Cambridge, hoisted a broad pennant, and took on himself both the duties and privileges of commander-in-chief, until Sir James Douglas, coming from the Leeward Islands in April 1762, summarily dispossessed him.

Forrest returned to England, passenger in a merchant ship, when, on reporting himself to the admiralty, he was told that his conduct in constituting himself commodore was 'most irregular and unjustifiable;’ and that the officers whom he had promoted would not be confirmed.

This led to a long correspondence, in which the admiralty so far yielded as to order him to be reimbursed for the expenses he had incurred, though without sanctioning the higher rate of pay.

At the time of his death, he never knew that advice of his appointment to the rank of admiral and reputedly, elevation to the peerage as the Viscount Forrest, were on a ship from London to Jamaica.