In 1800 Honynman took command of HMS Garland, initially on service in the English Channel. He sailed Garland to the Caribbean Sea in June 1801, bringing Rear-Admiral Robert Montagu to Jamaica,[4] where the ship was wrecked the following year. Honyman returned to England in October 1802 in command of HMS Topaze.[4]
In early 1803 he took command of the 38-gun frigate HMS Leda, taking part in several engagements of the Napoleonic Wars. In 1806 Honyman took Leda on Sir Home Popham's squadron in the occupation of the Cape of Good Hope, and crossed the South Atlantic to take part in the unsuccessful invasion of the Río de la Plata.[4]Leda returned to England in late 1807, and on 31 January 1808 she was wrecked in a storm near the entrance to Milford Haven. Honyman was court martialled for the loss of his ship, but he and his crew acquitted of all blame.[4]
In the 1780s, Honyman's father Patrick had passed the family estates to Robert's older half-brother William, a successful lawyer whose career had advanced under the patronage of the Tory minister Henry Dundas (later Lord Melville).[9] Orkney's electoral politics were in flux, as William expanded challenged the power of the previously dominant family of Sir Lawrence Dundas of Kerse, who in 1766 had bought out the Earl of Morton's estates and privileges in Orkney.[10] Sir Lawrence's son Sir Thomas, who succeeded his father in 1781, had neglected his Orkney estates and also fallen out with the Balfours of Trenabie.[9]
Sir Thomas's cousin Colonel Thomas Dundas had won the Orkney and Shetland seat in 1784. However at the 1790 election, the Balfours and Honymans combined to oust Col Thomas, electing John Balfour by 19 votes to Dundas's 13.[10] However, Balfour felt let down by the lack of the government patronage which he had expected in return for his support, and refused to stand again. After much negotiation, William Honyman put forward Robert, who was returned unopposed.[9] At the next election, in 1802 Robert was again returned unopposed in William's interest, this time in his absence.[9]
Robert was on active service with the navy for nearly all his decade in Parliament, and appears to have never voted or spoken in the House of Commons.[1] He stood down at the 1806 election, when his nephew Robert Honyman (Sir William's oldest son) was elected unopposed.[1][9]
^ abcdefgFisher, David R. (1986). R. Thorne (ed.). "HONYMAN, Robert I (c.1765–1848)". The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1790–1820. Boydell and Brewer. Retrieved 23 April 2015.
^ abcdeFisher, David R. (1986). R. Thorne (ed.). "Orkney and Shetland, 1790–1820". The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1790–1820. Boydell and Brewer. Retrieved 26 April 2015.
^ abHaden-Guest, Edith (1964). L. Namier; J. Brooke (eds.). "Orkney and Shetland, 1754–1790". The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1754–1790. Boydell and Brewer. Retrieved 26 April 2015.