He served for a few weeks in the Royal George, St. Vincent's flagship, in the blockade of Brest, and was promoted to be lieutenant of the Formidable with Captain Thornbrough on 12 Sept.

In October 1803 Layman was appointed to command the Weasel, a small vessel employed for the protection of trade in the traits of Gibraltar.

Nelson had a high opinion of Layman's abilities, but not of his discretion; on a former occasion he had written : 'His tongue runs too fast; I often tell him neither to talk nor write so much.'

Layman, however, understood Nelson to advise the suppression of his account of the accident, or rather the rewriting of it, particularly omitting 'that part relative to the misbehaviour of the officer of the watch, who will be sentenced to death if the narrative, worded as it is at present, is laid before the court.'

The court-martial found Layman guilty of want of care in approaching the land, and sentenced him to be severely reprimanded and to be put to the bottom of the list, with seniority 9 March 1805, the date of the trial.

Nelson afterwards wrote very strongly in Layman's favour, both to the first lord of the admiralty and to the secretary, and spoke of him in very high terms to his friend Davison (ib.

The remainder of his life seems to have been chiefly devoted to offering suggestions to the admiralty, which, on their part, were coldly acknowledged, and to publishing pamphlets on nautical or naval subjects.