Later career
Mudge's career advancement had suffered from being away for more than six years. However, through the intercession of Lady Camelford (Pitt's mother), he was promoted to commander on 24 November 1797, and on 8 November 1798 he obtained command of the 16-gun sloop Fly on the North America station. He captured the French privateer cutters Glaneur (5 February 1799) and Trompeur (30 August 1800), in the English Channel, but almost lost his ship in an encounter with an immense iceberg during a passage home from Halifax with despatches from the Commander-in-Chief the Duke of Kent.
Mudge was promoted to post-captain on 15 November 1800, and on 1 April 1801 was appointed to command of sixth-rate Constance. In early 1801, he received the thanks of the British merchants and consuls at Lisbon and Oporto for safely convoying a fleet from Falmouth to Portugal, and also for vessels at Viana, laden with brandy, which he escorted back to England. He also captured the Spanish cutter El Duides, of 8 guns and 69 men, and the privateer lugger Venture, of 2 guns and 27 men, on 7 and 8 June 1801, while off Vigo. Two days later, on 10 June, he captured the merchant ship Wilhelm Georg Frederic, and in July, with the assistance of the sloop Stork, captured El Cantara, a Spanish privateer of 22 guns and 110 men, and her consort, a 10 gun lugger, near Cape Ortegal. Constance was subsequently engaged in conveying foreign soldiers from Lymington to the Elbe.
On 23 September 1802, he was given command of the fifth rate Blanche, and at the end of 1803, was employed at the blockade of Saint-Domingue, where he captured or destroyed 24 enemy vessels in less than a month. Further captures included the French privateer Les Deux Amis, taken on 15 September 1804, in company with the sloop Pelican, the French schooner Gracieuse captured in October 1804, and Amitie in June 1805, each of 14 guns, and also the 4-gun Dutch schooner Nimrod, the 3-gun French privateer Hazard, as well as a large number of merchantmen.
On 15 July 1805 Blanche encountered a French squadron consisting of the 40-gun French frigate Topaze, the 22-gun corvette Department des Landes, the 18-gun Torche, and the 16-gun brig-corvette Faune. Blanche resisted bravely, but she was reduced to a wreck. Mudge ordered her colours struck and she sank sometime later after the French set fire to her. Mudge was court-martialled on the question whether he had made his best defence; he was not only acquitted, but complimented for "very able and gallant" conduct.
From 18 November 1805 to May 1810 he commanded Phoenix in the Bay of Biscay and at Lisbon. In her he captured the merchant Danish brig Kiellestadt in November 1806, and the Vigilante in October 1807, and also the French warships Agile on 29 May 1809, and Charles on 29 January 1810.
Mudge's last command was of the 74-gun Valiant on the Brazilian station from July 1814 to August 1815. He saw no further active service, but was promoted to rear-admiral on 22 July 1830, to vice-admiral on 23 November 1841, and to admiral on 15 September 1849. He died at Plympton on 26 October 1852.
