As a youth, he served in the British Royal Navy as a midshipman aboard HMS Panther and later in July 1771 commanded a blockhouse at Chateaux Bay on the Labrador coast.

[1] In September 1798 Tingey was commissioned a captain in the United States Navy and distinguished himself in the Quasi War with France, as commander of the man-of-war Ganges.

During that time, Tingey commanded a squadron which cruised the waters of the Windward Passage between Hispaniola and Cuba to protect American shipping from French privateers.

In a letter dated 7 April, 1803 the Secretary of the Navy accepted his resignation as Superintendent of the Yard, Lt. John Cassin was ordered to take command.

Smith's reluctance to grant Tingey's request, stemmed in part, from the recent allegations made by Naval Purser, Samuel Hanson, against both Tingey and his deputy John Cassin (naval officer).Hanson charged both officers had financially profited by placing enslaved laborers belonging to their families and friends on shipyard payrolls.

"[11] On 11 May 1815, an alarmed Board of Navy Commissioners, again wrote Tingey, about WNY employment practices "Particularly pressure in the employment of characters unsuited for the public service – maimed & unmanageable slaves for the accommodation of distressed widows & orphans & indigent families - apprentices for the accommodation of their masters – & old men & children for the benefit of their families & parents.

Secretary Smith requested Tingey on 6 February and 17 August 1808 arrange a test of Doctor Wallace's invention and Robert Fulton's torpedo both projects which required yard employees and resources.

Throughout his twenty-nine year tenure as Washington Navy Yard Commandant, Tingey, exercised his considerable diplomatic acumen in reconciling the often conflicting demands placed upon him.

As Yard Commandant, his correspondence reflects his strong desire to achieve balance between the requirements of his political superiors, and the needs and sometimes demands of his employees.

He was buried with military honors in the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, D.C. During the 1820s, Tingey was a member of the prestigious society, Columbian Institute for the Promotion of Arts and Sciences, who counted among their members former presidents Andrew Jackson and John Quincy Adams and many prominent men of the day, including well-known representatives of the military, government service, medical and other professions.

[22] As a slaveholder Commodore Tingey could be "rough and even brutal;" in 1828 diarist Michael Shiner wrote, "The same time they wher a lad comerder tinsay [Commodore Tingey] foot man had been cutting some of his shines at the house on the 4 and they taking him down to the rigging loft that it give him a starting.” [23] A "starting", flagellation, is a beating on the bare back with a thick rope end.