The first mention of him is in 1665, when he was appointed captain of the Norwich, a fifth-rate attached to the red squadron in the action off Lowestoft on 3 June.
In 1672 he commanded the 70-gun ship Edgar, one of the blue squadron, in the battle of Solebay; in 1673 he was flag-captain to Prince Rupert in the Sovereign.
In 1678 he commanded the Royal James as flag-captain to Sir Thomas Allin; in 1679 he was captain of the Northumberland, in 1680 of the Woolwich.
In October 1683 he was appointed captain of the East India Company's ship Royal James, with a double commission from the king and the company to command the fleet in the East Indies for reinstating the king of Bantam and re-establishing the trade there.
His will (in Somerset House: Cann, 50)—signed 18 October 1683, proved 8 April 1685—constitutes his ‘dear and well-beloved wife Isabel’ sole executrix, and leaves everything to her during her natural life; after her death, which happened in 1691, to be equally divided among his four sons—Robert, John, Samuel, and Joseph.