Serving in the English Channel, he joined Sir Sidney Smith for an attack on a French squadron near Cap Fréhel and was mentioned in dispatches for his efforts.

While serving in the Baltic in 1801, M'Kinley's Otter had a minor role in the Battle of Copenhagen; part of a light division, attached to Lord Nelson's squadron.

In 1807, M'Kinley was operating off Lisbon in HMS Lively and rescued British merchant vessels from the Tagus when French troops threatened the capital.

M'Kinley commanded a small squadron off Galicia in 1809, co-operating with the local resistance and aiding in the recapture of Santiago de Compostela.

Apart from a single trip to the South Atlantic, M'Kinley remained in home waters until the end of his sea service, finally coming ashore in 1817.

He was still aboard Ceres when she was captured off St Lucia by the French frigate, Iphigénie on 17 December 1778 and consequently was a prisoner of war until exchanged at the beginning of the 1779.

[1] While in the Mona Passage, on 19 April, Hood's fleet captured the French ships Jason, Caton, Aimable and recaptured the sloop, Ceres.

[2] In February 1793 Britain joined the First Coalition in the French Revolutionary War and in September, Alcide, under Commodore Robert Linzee, took part in operations preceding the Invasion of Corsica.

[1] In 1796, M'Kinley came to the attention of Sir Sidney Smith when he offered the services of Liberty and her crew, for an attack on a French squadron that had been chased into the port of Herqui, near Cap Fréhel.

[4][5] At 12:00 on 18 March, Smith's ship, HMS Diamond, Liberty and a hired lugger named Aristocrat, entered the narrow entrance of the harbour.

A party of marines and seamen were put ashore to silence one of the gun batteries while the British vessels engaged the French Corvette, four brigs, two sloops and a lugger, within.

Immediately after the battle, M'Kinley was placed in temporary command of HMS Bellona, her previous captain, Sir Thomas Boulden Thompson, being incapacitated through the loss of a leg.

In March 1802, Britain signed the Treaty of Amiens and on 23 July, M'Kinley transferred to HMS Ganges, sailing her first to Halifax, Nova Scotia, before heading home.

Such alliances resulted in the surrender of French forces at Vigo on 27 March,[7] and the recapture of the city of Santiago de Compostela on 3 July.