He accompanied Captain Cook on his second voyage (1772–75). On a further visit to the South Pacific islands in 1788, his irascible temper and overbearing conduct provoked the Bounty mutiny. Returning to Britain, he served under Nelson at Copenhagen (1801) and in 1805 was appointed governor of New South Wales. Conflict with the New South Wales Corps culminated in the Rum Rebellion of 1808. He settled in England in 1810.