Joining the navy on in 1801, he fought at Copenhagen that year and then in the West Indies on when the Peace of Amiensbroke down in 1803. He then served in in 1805 and 1806 under its captain Sir Samuel Hood, fighting in the battle off Rochefort on 25 September 1806 and in its capture of the 50-gun Russian battleship Sevolod on 26 August 1808. He was then appointed acting lieutenant on Ardent in April 1809 and during summer 1809 was captured and released by the Danes twice during the Gunboat War. He was confirmed as lieutenant in September 1809, continuing in Ardent right up to February 1811. He was then transferred to the brig off France's northern coast, managing to bring out an armed brig and three store ships on 19 August 1811 when Hawk drove a convoy and its escort on shore near Barfleur, though in a later attempt to cut two more brigs out of Barfleur harbour he was severely wounded and unable to serve again for almost a year. His next appointment was to the 74-gun off Cherbourg, then from September 1812 on off Toulon. In December 1812 he gained his first command, the bomb vessel, with which he sailed for North America in summer 1814 and fought during the War of 1812 on the Potomac, at Baltimore and at New Orleans. He was severely wounded again on 24 December 1814 at New Orleans and returned to England, where he was promoted to post rank on 13 June the following year. His next command was in the Mediterranean. From 1838 to 1844 he retired to Brecknockshire, serving as a Justice of the Peace there. In 1846 he married Elizabeth Taylor, daughter of John Taylor and niece of Admiral William Taylor, and was promoted to superintendent of Sheerness Dockyard, remaining there until promotion to rear admiral on 6 November 1850 and then to commander-in-chief of British naval forces in the Pacific Station in August 1853. Arriving there just before the declaration of the Crimean War, he proved tactful, courteous but indecisive and difficult in his dealings with working with his French colleague Auguste Febvrier Despointes. The French and British fleets slowly advanced across the Pacific, spending a long time at the Marquesas Islands and Honolulu. On 25 July 1854 the combined force sailed to meet two Russian frigates reported to be in the area, finding them dismantled at Petropavlovsk. An attack on them was planned for 31 August 1854 but on that morning Admiral Price was killed by a discharge of his own pistol. Command transferred to Sir Frederick Nicolson, who postponed the attack until 4 September, on which day the Russians decisively beat it back.
