ill he was promoted
lieutenant on the 28th of May 1783. Lord Howe selected him to be signal
lieutenant on the flagship of the Channel fleet at the beginning of the
revolutionary war with France. In that capacity he served in the "Queen
Charlotte" (100) during the operations which culminated in the battle
of the 1st of June 1794. The notes he wrote on Barrow's account of the
battle in his _Life of Howe_, and the reminiscences he dictated to his
daughter, which are to be found in her memoir of him, are of great value
for the history of the action. On the 7th of October 1794 he was
promoted commander, and on the 6th of April 1795 attained the rank of
post-captain and the command of the "Babet" (22). He continued to serve
in the Channel, and was present at the action off L'Orient on the 23rd
of June 1795. Codrington wrote notes on this encounter also, which are
to be found in the memoir. They are able and valuable, but, like all his
correspondence throughout his life, show that he was of a somewhat
censorious disposition, was apt to take the worst view of the conduct of
others, and was liable to be querulous. He next commanded the "Druid"
(32) in the Channel and on the coast of Portugal, till she was paid off
in 1797. Codrington now remained on shore and on half-pay for some
years. In December 1802 he married Jane, daughter of Jasper Hall of
Kingston, Jamaica.

On the renewal of the war after the breach of the peace of Amiens he was
appointed (May 1805) to the command of the "Orion" (74) and was attached
to the fleet on the coast of Spain, then blockading Villeneuve in Cadiz.
The "Orion" took a conspicuous part in the battle of Trafalgar.
Codrington's correspondence contains much illuminative evidence as to
the preliminaries and the events of the victory. From 1805 till 1813 he
continued to serve first in the "Orion" and then (1808) in the "Blake"
(74) in European waters. He was present on the Walcheren expedition, and
was very actively employed on the Mediterranean coast of Spain in
co-operating with the Spaniards against the French. In 1814 he was
promoted rear-admiral, at which time he was serving on the coast of
North America as captain of the fleet to Sir Alexander Cochrane during
the operations against Washington, Baltimore and New Orleans. In 1815 he
was made K.C.B., and was promoted vice-admiral on the 10th of July 1821.
In December 1826 he was appointed to the Mediterranean command, and
sailed on the 1st of Februar