On 10 March 1796, Stopford was captain of the fifth rate frigate HMS Phaeton,[1] of 38 guns, when she engaged and captured the 20-gun French corvette Bonne Citoyenne of Cape Finisterre.

[1] He sailed Excellent to the West Indies where he hoisted a commodore's pennant and served for eight months as the Commander-in-Chief of the Leeward Islands Station in 1802.

[1] He became a Colonel of Marines in November 1805 and received a gold medal for his conduct at the Battle of San Domingo in 1806, while still in command of Spencer.

He took part in the British invasions of the Río de la Plata and Battle of Copenhagen of 1806–07, and attacked Rochefort in 1808.

Stopford continued his blockade until Lord Gambier chased a fleet of ten French sail of the line into the Basque Roads and assumed command.

[1][6] He directed the operations that resulted in the capture of Java when on 8 August 1811, the Dutch settlement of Batavia capitulated to the British under Stopford and Lieutenant-General Sir Samuel Auchmuty.

His last active post, in his early seventies, was as commander-in-chief of the Mediterranean fleet during the Syrian War against the forces of Mehemet Ali.

The ornate silver and oak box is part of the collection of the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.