In 1755 he became lieutenant in Admiral Sir Edward Hawke's flagship St George and he soon received a small command, which led gradually to higher posts.

[1][2] In 1782 Commodore Hotham was with Richard Howe at the relief of Gibraltar, and at the time of the Spanish armament of 1790 he flew his flag as Rear-admiral of the red.

[2] On 13 March 1795 he fought an indecisive fleet action at the Naval Battle of Genoa, in which the brunt of the fighting was borne by Captain Horatio Nelson, and some months later, now a full admiral, he again engaged a French fleet, at the Naval Battle of Hyères Islands on 13 July 1795, this time under conditions which might have permitted a decisive victory; of this affair, Nelson wrote home that it was a "miserable action.

"[1] In November 1795, he was replaced as commander of the Mediterranean Fleet by Admiral Jervis and returned to England, and in 1797 he was made a peer of Ireland under the title of Baron Hotham of South Dalton, near Hull.

According to the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, Hotham lacked the fiery energy and genius of a Nelson or a Jervis, but in subordinate positions, he was a brave and capable officer.