[1] However, due to popular outcry at his dismissal,[1] he was reinstated at the same rank and made second lieutenant of the Enterprise on 12 May of the same year,[1] receiving the nickname 'Tom o'Ten Thousand' from his fellow seamen.

[1] Two years after this Smith was given command of the Dursley Galley,[1] a 20-gun fast frigate stationed in the Mediterranean, mainly tasked with patrolling against Barbary Pirates.

[1] On 11 February 1745 he was appointed Commander-in-Chief, North Sea a post he held till December 1746,[4] during this period Smith spent a lot of time organising anti-invasion defences off the coast of Suffolk and Essex aboard the 40-gun Hastings.

[1] Soon after taking command of the Downs Squadron in 1755, Smith began to draft a scheme to combat the problems regarding relations between the officers and the men in the Royal Navy.

While originally confined to Smith's Downs Squadron, it soon spread to other ships in the Service and was widely, though not universally admired, by the end of the Seven Years' War.

[5] In December 1756 he was ordered back from the Downs to preside over the trial of Admiral John Byng, at which Smith apparently did his utmost (albeit unsuccessfully) to see that the court's recommendation of leniency was followed.