[9][10] In 1801, Confiance had her crew reduced to 89 men[11] and sailed en aventurier to La Rochelle,[12] loaded with colonial goods for her return to France.

According to one source Confiance sailed "à l'aventure"; she was a letter of marque, a vessel that was primarily a merchantman, but with the legal authorization to attack targets of opportunity.

[11] On the journey, Surcouf still managed to capture a number of ships, notably the Portuguese Ebre,[11] with eighteen 12-pounder carronades and a 60-man crew; he released her against a ransom of 10,000 piastres and after exchanging her main mast for that of Confiance.

[1] On 4 June 1805, HMS Loire attacked the town of Muros, in Spain, and captured Confiance, as well as her consort Bélier.

Captain Frederick Maitland, of Loire, reported that Confiance was a "very fit Ship for His Majesty's Service; is reckoned to sail excessively fast; was to have gone to Sea in a few Days, bound to India, with a Complement of 300 men".

Maitland burnt Bélier, which he described as also fitting for sea, "supposed to be destined to cruise to Westward of Cape Clear.

[14] The British commissioned Confiance into the Royal Navy in June as an 18-gun sloop under the newly promoted Commander James Yeo, and for the Channel.

[15] On 18 August, as Confiance was sailing to Oporto, Yeo received information that the Reitrada, a small Spanish privateer lugger that had been active along the coast of Portugal, was anchored at La Guardia.

The French had captured Lisbon and the Royal Navy was maintaining a blockade in the Tagus where the onset of the Anglo-Russian War had trapped a squadron of Russian ships under the command of Vice-Admiral Dmitry Senyavin.

Confiance was off the Tagus when on 13 February she sent her cutter and jolly boat, with 15 men under the command of Master's Mate R. Trist, to row picket because of rumours that Senyavin was about to leave.

Yeo received permission from the commander-in-chief of the Royal Navy's Brazil station, Admiral Sir Sidney Smith to mount an operation against the French.

[20] On 13 January 1809, while Yeo was on shore with three-quarters of Confiance's crew, seamen and marines, the French frigate Topaze approached Cayenne.

The Principal Officers and Commissioners of His Majesty's Navy offered the "Confiance Sloop, 560 [Tons Burthen]", lying at Deptford, for sale on 22 December 1810.