recently been captured from the French just before the start of the Seven Years' War. Lys was only armed en flute, and Suckling was ordered to sail her back to Britain. Having left Halifax on 19 October with the rest of Boscawen's ships, Lys was separated from them in a storm but succeeded in reaching the Downs on 23 November. Suckling's command of Lys, being a ship of the line and officially the command of a post captain, combined with his patronage and the beginning of the Seven Years' War almost guaranteed his promotion. This occurred on 2 December. Suckling had taken longer than some of his contemporaries, such as Augustus Keppel and Richard Howe, to reach the rank, but having done so he could expect to be eventually promoted to flag rank by seniority if he lived long enough. Seven Years' War Alongside his promotion Suckling was given command of the 60-gun ship of the line HMS Dreadnought, which was the flag ship of Townshend who was now a rear-admiral. Ordered to Jamaica, Dreadnought formed part of an eleven-warship escort to a convoy that left Spithead on 31 January 1756. Dreadnought arrived at Port Royal on 18 April; Townshend would go on to leave the Jamaica Station but Suckling and Dreadnought continued on. The ship spent most of her service in harbour at Port Royal as the area was a backwater in the Seven Years' War. Suckling was able, however, to occasionally take his ship on patrols around the coast of Santo Domingo. On 21 October 1757 Dreadnought was undertaking such an operation alongside two other 60-gun ships of the line, expecting to intercept a French convoy leaving Cape Français. Dreadnought first spotted sails at 7am, and at mid-day the British found that the French squadron sent to escort the convoy had come out to engage them. It was an unexpectedly powerful squadron, consisting of seven warships, including four ships of the line. The senior British officer, Captain Arthur Forrest, met with his captains. When he suggested that the French were looking for a battle, Suckling replied "I think it would be a pity to disappoint them". The three ships formed line of battle with Dreadnought taking the vanguard. Suckling began the battle at 3:20pm by engaging the French flag ship, the 74-gun ship of the line Intrépide. Dreadnought destroyed so many of Intrépides spars that the French ship