Saunders was a lieutenant in the ‘Centurion’ during Anson’s voyage round the world 1740-44. Saunders was sent home with dispatches from Macao and returned to England in 1743. He played a distinguished part in Hawke’s action with the French commander de l’Entenduère in 1747, when in command of the ‘Yarmouth’. He became Treasurer of Greenwich Hospital in 1754, Comptroller of the Navy in 1755, Second in Command in the Mediterranean in 1756 and by succession Commander-in-Chief in 1757. As Admiral of the Blue Sir Charles Saunders commanded the naval force that co-operated with Wolfe in the capture of Quebec in 1759. In 1765 he became one of the lords of the Admiralty and for a few months in 1766 First Lord.