Inglis was born into a gentry family and embarked on a career in the navy, serving at first under Captain George Brydges Rodney.

Back in service again with the outbreak of the American War of Independence, Inglis served in the Caribbean, where he captured a large Spanish privateer.

Inglis was given command of a small squadron of his own and cruised with some success during the last years of the war, capturing a French frigate.

Rodney carried out several successful cruises, capturing four ships from a French convoy in June 1747, and fighting under Rear-Admiral Edward Hawke at his clash with Desherbiers de l'Etenduère's fleet at the Second Battle of Cape Finisterre on 25 October 1747.

His next appointment was to the newly completed bomb vessel HMS Carcass in June 1759, which was assigned to support the attack on Le Havre the following month, conducted by Inglis's old commander, George Brydges Rodney.

[1][3] The expedition succeeded in its aim of destroying a large number of flat-bottomed boats which had been assembled in the port, thus frustrating a planned invasion attempt.

[1][b] As tensions between Britain and Spain over ownership of the Falkland Islands increased, the Royal Navy hastily commissioned and prepared for service a number of ships in the anticipation of war.

Inglis's old commander, now Admiral Holburne, was a member of the Board of Admiralty, and may have had a hand in arranging his appointment to one of these ships, the 28-gun HMS Lizard.

[1][5] The appointment was short-lived; the Spanish backed down after failing to gain French support for their claims and the threat of war passed.

[7][c] Inglis continued off North America until the summer of 1780, when he returned to England, paying Salisbury off in August that year.

[1][6] Inglis's next command was the 64-gun HMS St Albans, which he took over in November 1780, sailing in April the following year with Vice-Admiral George Darby's fleet to the relief of Gibraltar.

[1][8] He was with Admiral Robert Digby's squadron later that year, before being sent to the Leeward Islands to join Sir Samuel Hood at Barbados.

Inglis was again in action with the French on 9 April, when Hood's fleet clashed with de Grasse's in the Dominica Channel, and fought at the Battle of the Saintes on 12 April, where the main British fleet under Inglis's old captain, now Admiral Sir George Rodney, decisively defeated de Grasse.

[11] Magnificent was close enough to identify the mysterious ship as a frigate by 18:00, and by 20:00 as darkness fell Concorde opened fire on her pursuer with her stern guns.

[1] The younger Charles Inglis followed his father into the navy, served in several engagements of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, and died in 1833 with the rank of post-captain.