After the outbreak of war with France in 1793, the Admiralty, desirous of quickly building up the Royal Navy, purchased a number of commercial vessels, including nine East Indiamen, to meet the need for small two-decker fourth rates to serve as convoy escorts.

[8] On 24 June 1793 the fleet of Indiamen captured the French brig Franc;[9] the crew of Ceres took possession.

At Whampoa that December were several other East Indiamen, among which were several that on their return to Britain the Admiralty would purchase: Warley, Royal Charlotte, Earl of Abergavenny, and Hindostan.

[10] The British Government had chartered Hindostan to take Lord Macartney to China in an unsuccessful attempt to open diplomatic and commercial relations with the Chinese empire.

[3] The Admiralty purchased Ceres and commissioned her as HMS Grampus in December under Captain Alexander Christie, for the North Sea.

[2] (There was already a frigate Ceres in the Royal Navy, and a previous fourth-rate Grampus had just been sold for breaking up.)

Grampus shared with five other naval vessels in the prize money arising out of the capture on 1 April of the French privateer Alexander, and the salvage money from the recapture of her prize, the Portuguese vessel Nostra Signora del Monte del Carmo.

[11] Alexander was armed with ten guns and had a crew of 65 men under the command of M. Petre Edite.

In May, Grampus was among the vessels that took part in the campaign to capture Saint Lucia under Rear Admiral Hugh Cloberry Christian and General Ralph Abercromby.

[2] The mutineers on the various vessels involved found Grampus particularly useful because as a storeship, stocked for a voyage, she was able to provide them with supplies.

Still, after the reading of the proclamation the mutiny collapsed and by mid-June Grampus had returned to Royal Navy control.

[19] In Jamaica, Admiral Hyde Parker, the commander of the station, was concerned that Grampus had brought a disaffected crew that could spread mutiny there too.

The subsequent court martial absolved Captain Hall and his officers and crew of any responsibility, instead blaming Richardson's ignorance.

[21] The wreck proved to be an obstacle to navigation so in April, the Commissioners of the Navy issued a call for proposals to "remove and clear the River Thames of the Wreck of His Majesty's late Ship Grampus, now on Shore on Barking-Shelf, opposite the Powder-Houses".