He therefore turned south to Cadiz, leading to the abandonment of the planned invasion of England, and the destruction of the French fleet at Trafalgar by Horatio Nelson some months later.

He rose through the ranks after the end of the wars with France, and was commander of the South America Station during Charles Darwin's voyage aboard HMS Beagle.

[1][2] His naval career began on 23 August 1781 when he joined the storeship HMS Dromedary as a midshipman, serving in the Downs under Captain John Stone.

[1] He remained with the Dromedary until 26 June 1782, and joined HMS Kite under Captain John Peyton on 17 October that year, also on the Downs station.

[1] Baker served in the Channel as part of the forces under Rear-Admiral John MacBride, before moving into the hired armed lugger Valiant on 20 May 1794, and then to HMS Fairy in November as her acting-captain.

[1] He spent between 1796 and 1797 in the North Sea, after which he was appointed flag captain aboard the 98-gun HMS Princess Royal, the flagship of Sir John Orde.

[5] Baker and the Nemesis had been assigned to enforce the blockade of naval stores to the French and Dutch dockyards, with a small squadron under his command.

[1] On 25 July he approached a convoy of six merchantmen off Ostend, that was being escorted by the 40-gun Danish frigate Freja, and announced his intention to search the merchants, as he suspected them of carrying stores to be used by the French.

[7] The British had no reason to trust or fear the Danes and were not inclined to alter this policy, and a diplomatic mission was sent to Copenhagen under Lord Whitworth, accompanied by a fleet under Vice-Admiral Archibald Dickson.

[8] Simmering discontent over the unresolved matter of British rights in enforcing the blockades led to the Danes, Swedes and Russians forming the Second League of Armed Neutrality.

In response the British despatched a fleet under Sir Hyde Parker and Horatio Nelson to force the Danes to withdraw from the League, which resulted in the Battle of Copenhagen.

[7] The Peace of Amiens temporarily left Baker without a ship, but he returned to active service with the resumption of hostilities, taking command of the 36-gun HMS Phoenix on 28 April 1803.

[7][12] The following day the three ships were sighted by the combined fleet under Villeneuve, heading for Brest and then on to Boulogne to escort the French invasion forces across the Channel.

[13][15] The British ships altered their course and made for Plymouth, where they arrived on 3 September, having prevented an attempt by their French prisoners to capture the Phoenix and retake the Didon.

[16] Baker resumed his service in the Bay of Biscay, and on 2 November he was discovered off Cape Finisterre by four French ships of the line under Pierre Dumanoir le Pelley, that had escaped from the destruction of the Franco-Spanish fleet at Trafalgar two weeks previously.

[17] They chased the Phoenix southwards, with Baker trying to lure them towards a British squadron he knew to be in the area, under Captain Sir Richard Strachan.

[7] By the end of 1815 he could reflect that his active career had included playing a significant role in bringing about three of the decisive actions of the Napoleonic Wars, Copenhagen, Trafalgar, and Cape Ortegal.