 He was promoted and captain, and from September 1796 to November 1799 acted as lieutenant-governor of Norfolk Island while King was absent in England.His administration was generally efficient and he seems to have had a steadying influence on the population of convicts and settlers.During his regime, the only ship built on the island, the sloop "Norfolk", used by Matthew Flinders to circumnavigate Van Diemen's Land, was constructed in 1798.