The English seamen, growing desperate, got dead drunk, and the Frenchmen, arming themselves as they best could, attacked Markham, who was at the helm.

[3] Markham went to Jamaica, where, in March 1782, Sir Peter Parker, 1st Baronet promoted him to command the Volcano fireship.

Markham supposed that this was a signal to a small craft in company, and as the motions of the brig were otherwise suspicious, he fired into her.

On the complaint of the French lieutenant in command, Markham was tried by court-martial and cashiered, but Rodney, reviewing the evidence, reinstated him on his own authority, and the king in council, on the report of the admiralty, completely restored him, 13 November.

[3] From 1783 to 1786, Markham commanded HMS Sphinx and was subsequently in reserve until the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars in 1793.

Promoted to rear admiral on 23 April 1804,[5] he remained at the admiralty until May 1804, and resumed a position there, as First Naval Lord from January 1806,[6] before retiring completely in March 1807.

[7] Although Markham remained in the Navy and was eventually promoted to full admiral on 12 August 1819,[8] he did not serve in a command capacity again.