A change at the Admiralty was imperative.
He held many high offices during the reigns of Elizabeth and James I., including a judgeship of the admiralty court (1584), a mastership in chancery (1588), a mastership of the court of requests (1595), chancellor and under treasurer of the exchequer (1606).
He began, as was to be expected in his father's son, by supporting the court; and in 1770, when only twenty-one, he was appointed a junior lord of the admiralty with Lord North.
On the Dutch side much damage had to be repaired, and their complicated administration, by five independent admiralty boards, rendered rapid work impossible.
Richard, L'Oceanographie (Paris, 1907); List of Oceanic Depths and Serial Temperature Observations, received at the Admiralty in the year 1888 (et seq.) from H.M.