[5] Entering the navy in 1807, Willes-Johnson became a first class volunteer serving on the Vestal under Captain Edwards Lloyd Graham for two years at Home and Newfoundland stations.
During his travels, he succeeded in a ruse de guerre, causing an enemy's armed vessel to sheer off despite not possessing a gun on board on the ship.
[2] Willes-Johnson then returned to England, where his arrival was received for three months on the Port Mahon sloop captained by Villiers Francis Hatton.
In August 1810, he returned to the seas with Graham on the Pallas, heading for the coast of Norway where he aided in the capture of four Danish privateers and several merchantmen.
[2] Leaving the Alcmène in 1813, he joined the Pylades sloop with Captain James Erskine Wemyss, before he then became acting-Lieutenant of the Caledonia bearing the flag of the late Lord Exmouth.