[4] As a naval cadet, Bille was given permission to sail with the Danish Asiatic Company ship Cronprintzen to Tranquebar on the Coromandel Coast, a voyage that lasted two years and during which he was commissioned as a junior lieutenant.

[2][1] Bille captained the frigate Bornholm in the fleet during 1758 before moving to the ship-of-the-line Delmenhorst in 1759 and 1760, employed in convoy duties to Lisbon and Marseille which included the delivery of hunting falcons to the king of Portugal.

In 1761, he was an official observer on the sea trials of the new frigate Falster[5] (designed and built by his son-in-law Frederik Michael Krabbe) and in the following years acted as assessor in various courts martial.

In March 1766, he refused to consider repaying a debt which his long dead father, Just Bille, had incurred to the Bornholm Infantry Regiment.

[2] He commanded, in 1769, the ship-of-the-line Norske Løve, the best sailing ship in Admiral le Sage de Fontenay’s squadron.