HMS Elizabeth at the Battle of Barfleur in May 1692. He commanded the third-rate HMS Monck in the fleet under Sir George Rooke, which while in charge of the Smyrna convoy, was scattered by the French at the Battle of Lagos off Cape St. Vincent in June 1693. Fairborne was given command of the first-rate HMS Victory in 1695 and then transferred to the command of the third-rate HMS Defiance in February 1696 with orders to protect the outward-bound trade in the Downs. He returned to HMS Victory in March 1697 and then transferred to the first-rate HMS London in June 1697 and to the second-rate HMS Albemarle in Autumn 1697. Fairborne was appointed to the third-rate HMS Torbay in May 1699, but as the ship was not ready, he transferred to the storeship HMS Suffolk in Summer 1699 and then took command of the fourth-rate HMS Tilbury in January 1700 with orders to sail to Newfoundland to clear the coast of pirates. Later in the year he served in the Mediterranean. Senior command Promoted to rear-admiral on 30 June 1701, Fairborne was knighted on 3 November 1701. After receiving the Freedom of the City of Cork, he was given command of the inshore squadron, with his flag in the first-rate HMS St George, in a fleet sent to the Mediterranean in Summer 1702 during the War of the Spanish Succession. The fleet was defeated at the Battle of Cádiz in September 1702 but, after Fairborne transferred his flag to the third-rate HMS Essex, the fleet achieved a victory at the Battle of Vigo Bay in October 1702. After the battle he was tasked with assisting Sir Cloudesley Shovell to bring the prizes home delivering a squadron of them safely to Spithead in November 1702. In February 1703, he refused a command in the West Indies and, fearing he had been banned by the council of the Lord High Admiral from holding any future command, challenged Admiral George Churchill to a duel: both officers were subsequently arrested. Promoted to vice-admiral on 6 May 1703, Fairborne became Third-in-Command, with his flag in the second-rate HMS Association, serving under Shovell in the Mediterranean Fleet with orders to annoy the enemy, assist the allies and protect English trade. The ship was caught in the great storm of December 1703 and, having been torn from her anchor at Gunfleet Sands, was blown across the