7 March 1772 promote him to full captain, commanding . Service in the West Indies Thompson sailed to the West Indies commanding , the flagship of Vice-Admiral William Parry, and later moved to the frigate . He returned to England in 1774, and then went back to the West Indies in command of in early 1776 (capturing the 20-gun French ship Le Compas). He accompanied a merchant convoy to England in October 1777, before yet again going out to the West Indies in 1780. Sir John Laforey was appointed commissioner of the shipyard at Antigua in 1780, but Thompson refused to recognize this authority, leading to a long feud. In the Caribbean, Thompson was moved by Sir George Rodney to the 74-gun , commanding her throughout the American War of Independence, including at the battles of the Chesapeake, St Kitts, under Sir Samuel Hood). In April 1782, Thompson was present in the rear division at the Battle of the Saintes. Sir George Rodney's decisive victory over the French in the Caribbean. He sailed Alcide back to England at the end of the War. Later service In 1787 Thompson commanded at Portsmouth, and in 1790 (during the crisis of the Spanish armament). When the War of the First Coalition broke out in 1793 he was put in command of , as part of Sir John Jervis and Lieutenant-General Sir Charles Grey's expedition against France's West Indian possessions, participating in the capture of Martinique (directing the boat attacks on Fort Royal) and Guadeloupe as a commodore. Also during this time in the Indies, Laforey and Thompson's feud reignited over Laforey conduct as commander-in-chief at the Leeward Islands, thus providing an excuse for First Lord of the Admiralty to recall Laforey but causing alarm amidst the other Admiralty commissioners (Sir Charles Middleton resigned over the affair). In the course of promotions through seniority, Thompson was promoted to rear-admiral of the blue on 12 April 1794, and sailed back to England the following year (with as his flagship) to be made vice admiral on 1 June 1795 (with his flag in ). Mediterranean service Thompson was next put in command of a detached squadron as part of the British blockade of Brest, before being transferred to , in which he served in the Mediterranean. In Britannia he acted as second in command at the battle of Cape St Vincent, disregarding Jervis's signal to tack