Promoted to captain on 2 December 1844, Wellesley was given command of the fifth-rate HMS Daedalus on the Pacific Station in July 1849 and then became Captain of HMS Cornwallis in the Baltic Fleet in February 1855 taking part in the Bombardment of Sveaborg in August 1855 during the Crimean War.[1] He was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in February 1856.[2] He remained in command of HMS Cornwallis when she moved to the North America and West Indies Station in 1856 and then commanded the Indian Navy from 1857 until it became the Bombay Marine in 1862.[1]