Career
He served in the Royal Navy, being commissioned lieutenant with a date of seniority of 12 April 1762. By the outbreak of the American War of Independence he had been promoted Captain and was stationed in the West Indies in command of HMS Monarch. He commanded Monarch during the Battle of the Chesapeake in September 1781 and remained with her throughout 1782 and saw action during the Capture of Sint Eustatius, the Battle of Saint Kitts, the Battle of the Saintes and, the Battle of the Mona Passage.
Ducie Island, in the Pacific Ocean, was named after him by Captain Edward Edwards of HMS Pandora, who had served under Ducie during his time in command of HMS Augusta.
Firstly in 1774 to Mary Purvis of Shepton Mallet, by whom he had two sons: his heir Thomas, and Augustus John, who became a Lieutenant colonel in the 1st Foot Guards. After Mary"s death, he remarried in 1791 to Sarah Child, widow of the London banker Robert Child.
