On 18 September 1815 he was promoted to Commander and in command of the brig continued surveying the coast of Sicily, the adjacent coasts of Italy, and the opposite shores of Africa. In 1817 his survey work was put on a more formal footing by his appointment to (renamed in 1821 as "Adventure" and later accompanied on the first voyage of the "Beagle"). In "Aid", he carried on the hydrographic survey of the Italian, Sicilian, Greek, and African coasts, and constructed a very large number of charts, used by the Royal Navy among others until the mid-20th century. As a result, he became known as "Mediterranean Smyth". His hydrographic operations in the Adriatic, in collaboration with the Austrian and Neapolitan authorities, resulted in the "Carta di Cabottaggio del Mare Adriatico", published in 1822–24.