Promoted to captain on 22 March 1779, Pole became commanding officer of the first-rate HMS "Britannia", flagship of Rear Admiral George Darby, Second-in-Command of the Channel Squadron. He transferred to the command of the sixth-rate HMS "Hussar" in 1780 which ran aground off Hell Gate although he was acquitted at the subsequent court-martial. He was given command of the fifth-rate HMS "Success" and in her, while undertaking an escort mission in support of the armed store-ship HMS "Vernon", captured and then destroyed the Spanish frigate "Santa Catalina" in the Strait of Gibraltar in the action of 16 March 1782.