13 February and sent to the West Indies to serve on the ship of the line as her third lieutenant. As such he fought at the Siege of Louisbourg between 6 June and 27 July, before becoming the second lieutenant of Nottingham on 25 August. On 31 January 1760 he left Nottingham to re-join his mentor Howe on the ship of the line as her fourth lieutenant. Bowyer was promoted to commander on 4 May 1761 and given as his first command the newly captured cutter , which had been the French privateer Le Comte de Valence. He patrolled off the southern coast of England until 30 June 1762 when Swift was attacked and captured by the French privateer Manley off Ushant. The French ship had been much larger than Bowyer's command, and at the subsequent court martial (held after the loss of any Royal Navy ship) he was acquitted, 'having done everything in his power for escaping the enemy' before being captured. Post-captain Swift was Bowyer's only command as a commander because on 28 October 1762 he was promoted to post-captain. He was given command of the frigate at the same time and served in her in the Mediterranean until 17 December 1763 when he paid her off, the Seven Years' War having ended. Bowyer stayed unemployed until the American Revolutionary War began, when on 31 October 1776 he was given command of the ship of the line in which he served off the coast of Ireland. He left Burford to recommission the ship of the line on 4 May 1778; on 9 June he sailed her to North America before travelling to the West Indies on 13 December as part of the fleet of Vice-Admiral John Byron. As part of the fleet Bowyer fought at the Battle of Grenada on 6 July 1779. Having afterwards joined the fleet of Admiral Sir George Rodney in Albion, Bowyer fought in a number of actions against the French admiral de Guichen. The first of these was the Battle of Martinique on 17 April 1780 where Rodney attempted to concentrate multiple ships against each French vessel; Bowyer understood this order but it was confused by many others and he was ordered away from attacking in the correct way by Rear-Admiral Hyde Parker. The battle ended indecisively. On 15 May the two fleets collided again after a fluke change in the wind allowed