Gilbert's daughter, Eliza, married Sir Robert Campbell (1771–1858) 1st Bt., of Carrick Buoy, County Donegal, a director of the East India Company and a commissioner for the lieutenancy of London.

Pasley continued to serve with Digby after his promotion, joining the ship of the line HMS Dunkirk on the Siege of Rochefort, when a British combined naval and land force failed disastrously to capture the strategic French port.

There Elliot heard a rumour of a French invasion force landing at Carrickfergus and put to sea in the hope of intercepting the enemy squadron.

Pasley became first lieutenant as a result of this action and spent the remained of the war on Aeolus in the English Channel and subsequently off the Spanish coast on commerce raiding activities.

Arriving in the worst of the wet season, Weazel soon became infested with malaria and all four engineers and the majority of the crew succumbed and died in a short period.

So depleted was Weazel's crew that Pasley was forced to impress sailors from West African merchant ships in order to return to Britain safely.

[1] Pasley's first duty was escorting a convoy to the West Indies, which he did swiftly and successfully, his wife being presented with plate in reward for his services.

He remained on the Jamaica station for the next two years, capturing numerous enemy ships and making a substantial amount in prize money.

In 1780 he sailed for the Cape of Good Hope and brought back all the documentation and several survivors from Captain James Cook's expedition to the Pacific, including Nathaniel Portlock.

Further engaged on 29 May, Pasley was seriously wounded in the general action of the Glorious First of June when Lord Howe's fleet defeated Villaret de Joyeuse's French.