In this ship he was soon after sent to the West Indies, where our colonies were in no small danger, having both the French and Dutch upon their hands. On his arrival at Barbadoes the governor bought some large merchant ships, converted them into men-of-war, and having made up nine sail, including the _Coronation_, manned and put them under the command of Commodore Berry. With this little fleet he sailed for Nevis, in order to protect it from the French, who had already made themselves masters of St. Christopher, Antigua, and Montserrat. He had scarcely arrived before he had intelligence that the French were preparing at St. Christopher a very great force, which was intended for the conquest of Nevis. They had twenty-two men-of-war and frigates, six large transport ships of their own, and four Dutch. With these they sailed toward Nevis as to a certain victory. Commodore Berry sailed with his nine ships to meet them; and, as he turned the point of the island, one of his best ships blew up, which struck his men with astonishment if not dismay. "Now you have seen an English ship blow up," said the commodore, "let us try if we can't blow up a Frenchman. There they are, boys! and if we don't beat them they will beat us." Having said this, he immediately began the fight with the French admiral; and, after an engagement of upwards of thirteen hours, forced this mighty fleet to fly for shelter under the cannon of St. Christopher, whither he pursued them, sent in a fire-ship, and burnt the French admiral. Seeing her in flames, he said to his seamen, "I told you in the morning that we should burn a Frenchman before night; to-morrow we will try what we can do with the rest." While he was refitting his ships the enemy wisely stole away; the French to Martinico, and the Dutch to Virginia. In the third Dutch war he had the command of the _Resolution_, a seventy-gun ship, in which he was present at the famous action in Southwold Bay, on May 28th, 1672. In this battle, observing that the Duke of York was very hard pressed, he left his station, and came in to his relief, where the service proved so hot that in less than two hours he had no fewer than one hundred and twenty men killed, as many more wounded, and his ship completely disabled: upon this he was towed out of the line, stopped his leaks, and fell into his place again in an hour, and there did such service that when Charles II. came to meet the fleet, and dined on board the _Royal Sovereign_ at the Buoy in the Nore, he, of his own thought, called for Captain Berry, and, having knighted him, said very graciously, "As our thoughts have been now upon honour, we will hereafter think of profit; for I would not have so brave a man a poor knight."