He stayed on board to help fight the fire, and managed to get a sail set, but the ship exploded with the loss of many of her crew (see List of shipwrecks in 1753 ) and Kaas was only rescued by cadet Hans Schiønnebøl at the last minute.

[2] From April 1760 he was appointed interim supply officer for the dry dock at Christianshavn,[6] Copenhagen,[2] a position which may have continued even while he served in ships in home waters until 1765.

Mars, in company with Havfruen, was ordered back to Denmark in January 1772 but overwintered at Lisbon, eventually arriving in Danish waters at the end of May 1772.

In 1779 and 1780 Kaas captained Holsten to the Cape of Good Hope to escort in convoy a number of homeward bound East India and Chinese trading ships, as well as carrying reinforcements for the Danish colonies in Guinea which had come into conflict with the Dutch.

[2] As the voyage continued 84 crew members were lost to scurvy and dysentery, which led (on his return to Denmark) to an investigation of Ulrik Kaas' management of the ship.

Although Kaas was found blameless of mismanagement, the rations and treatment of the crews in the Royal Danish Navy improved noticeably.

In the Theatre War with Sweden, Kaas took command of the sea defences of the naval base at Copenhagen but left after a short period to his final posting as head of the Customs Service.