He is known for exploration, surveying, and diplomacy, and published three important accounts of his voyages in India and the Malay Archipelago He appears to have served for some time in the Royal Navy, and to have been a midshipman in 1745.

He was next in command of the sloop Fanny trading in arrack and wine in Batavia in 1759, but fell foul of the Dutch who confiscated most of his cargo and damaged the ship.

He was released by the French as a private merchant, returned to Batavia to continue trading in opium, and his profits were sufficient for him to purchase the ketch Bonetta.

She sailed from northern Sumatra to Bali in early 1762, but was then wrecked near Saleyer He was assisted by the Dutch, who returned him and other survivors to Fort Marlborough in August 1762.

In this, accompanied during part of the time by two small boats, he pushed his explorations as far as Geelvink Bay in New Guinea, examining the Sulu Archipelago, the south coast of Mindanao, Mandiolo, Batchian, and particularly Waigeo, of which his was the first good chart.

[5] The book brought him some fame in scientific circles, and he was able to introduce William Marsden, first Secretary to the Admiralty, to Joseph Banks, president of the Royal Society, in 1780.

He arrived in Madras on 27 March 1781, and was immediately engaged in supporting Britain in the war with France, both transporting people and material and in diplomatic and intelligence activity.

In 1782, in the ketch Fly, he located the French fleet, which had left the coast of India and had eluded Sir Edward Hughes the English commander-in-chief, at Aceh.