Captain Edwards and his officers were exonerated and subsequently Edwards served for a few years as a 'regulating' captain (recruiting officer) in Argyll and Hull and then resigned himself to inactivity on the half pay list. However, he was promoted to vice-admiral in 1809 and eventually ended his career as Admiral of the White, titularly the third most senior officer in the Royal Navy. He died in his native place - Stamford, Lincolnshire - aged 73, in 1815. Edwards was buried in St Remigius Church in Water Newton, a village in Huntingdonshire.