Adair entered the Royal Navy, and saw early service in Eastern Sudan. He was briefly in command of the
armoured cruiser HMS Australia from November 1899 to January 1900, when she was coast guard ship for
Southampton Water. On 20 January 1900 he commissioned for service on the
Mediterranean Squadron. He was captain when on 9 November 1901 one of the ship's 6-inch (152 mm) guns exploded, killing one officer and five marines, and injuring another 20 people. Following the accident, he returned to the United Kingdom, and was in January 1902 appointed to , shore establishment at
Sheerness, for command of the Gunnery School. Charles Henry Adair died on 9 March 1920. ==References==