French army. By successful diplomacy, he obtained the release of Christian slaves from the Dey of Algiers. He personally saved his ship from accidental destruction by the much larger HMS Eagle, in Valletta harbour. He had to surrender his ship to three Spanish privateers, in 1807. He was later cleared by court martial for the loss of Crafty, but was reprimanded for having lost contact with , with which he had been in company, and for staying too long at anchor in the harbour where the Spanish found him. He next was involved in action against the Dutch, in the East Indies. He was promoted to Commander on 8 April 1808 and given command of Samarang, in which he participated the Spice Islands campaign that led to the capture of Amboyna and captured Pulo Ay. He was made post captain on 25 July 1810 and then on 18 August took command of . Prize money acquired during his successful career enabled him and his family to settle down after the end of hostilities in 1815. He retired from the Navy in 1817. Marriage While in the evening of his Royal Navy career, he married Ann Warden Liddon, of Charmouth, near Lyme Regis in Dorset, England. Their first son, Richard, was born in Charmouth in 1814 but died in Malta in 1815. They were to have 12 children. Lyme Regis He bought a house in Lyme Regis, in 1817. This was situated on the Exeter road, overlooking the Cobb harbour. After the Great Storm of 1824, no doubt stimulated by fears for the safety of shipping on that treacherous coast, he was engaged in pioneering ideas for a buoyant and self-righting 'lifeboat'. This was an adapted pilot boat, with copper buoyancy tanks fitted. Knighthood and Australia Richard Spencer followed news of the colonization of Australia with interest. He determined to emigrate for the sake of the future of his several children. He was knighted in 1833 (Companion of the Order of the Bath 1815 and Knight of the Royal Guelphic Order 1833). This was not a government nomination but was in the personal gift of King William IV. He was appointed Government Resident of the settlement at King George's Sound, now Albany, Western Australia, in 1833. Spencer, together with 21 members of his family and servants, emigrated to Australia arriving at King George's Sound in September 1833 with merino sheep, cattle,