By chance, Pallas, in company with Brilliant and Aeolus, put into Kinsale in the last days of February 1760, just as a message came from the Duke of Bedford, then lord-lieutenant of Ireland, that François Thurot's squadron was at Belfast.

They immediately put to sea and, coming to Belfast on the morning of the 28th, succeeded in capturing Thurot's ships with small loss.

The master made a counter-accusation that Clements had misused and wasted the ship's stores, but in November 1765 a Navy Board inquiry dismissed this allegation as both groundless and inspired by malice.

[5] In 1769 Clements commanded HMS Dorsetshire of 70 guns, guardship at Portsmouth, but which in 1770 was sent up the Mediterranean as part of the answer to a threatening armament of the French at Toulon.

In March 1778 he was appointed to HMS Vengeance of 74 guns, which he commanded in the action off Ushant on 27 July and in the October cruise under Admiral Augustus Keppel.