York after the Battle of Bunker Hill. He was promoted to first lieutenant and in 1776 moved aboard the 50-gun , which was at that time the flagship of Vice-Admiral Molyneux Shuldham. He went on to see service on the flat boats at New York and Rhode Island. Knowles returned to Britain aboard in January 1777 to see his father, who was in declining health. Whilst at home he took the opportunity to prepare his first signal book, A Set of Signals for a Fleet on a Plan Entirely New, for publication, before returning to the Americas in summer 1777. The book, published that year, proposed innovative new ways of flying numbered signals, and the development of tactics whereby the traditional line of battle would be abandoned once the battle began. It has a real Nelsonic ring about it. “..the book as a whole seems an astonishing achievement for a young man of twenty-four - even with Nelson’s captaincy at the age of twenty in mind…..all mark Knowles as a true innovator". Knowles claimed to have communicated the work to Lord Howe, and that Howe's tactics at the Glorious First of June reflected Knowles's theories on effective naval tactics. The death of his father on 9 December that year and his succession as the second baronet caused Knowles to return to England again. He returned to active service again during the summer of 1778, and was present with Barrington's fleet at the Battle of St. Lucia on 15 December 1778, serving aboard Commander James Richard Dacres's 18-gun . Two days later the Ceres was chased and captured by a squadron under the comte d'Estaing. He was exchanged and appointed to serve as lieutenant aboard Vice-Admiral Barrington's flagship, the 74-gun . In May 1779 he was briefly ordered to be master and commander of the storeship , but had returned to the Prince of Wales by 6 July, when he took part and was wounded in the Battle of Grenada. Knowles returned to England with Barrington in October 1779, and by December had joined Admiral Sir George Rodney's flagship, the 90-gun , as a volunteer for the Relief of Gibraltar. Command Rodney appointed him to command the 18-gun xebec on 26 January 1780, quickly following this with a promotion to post-captain and an appointment to the 24-gun on 2 February. Knowles went on to serve in a highly active role in