Inconstant was built to plans by Jacques-Noël Sané, with Jean-Baptiste Marestier supervising construction.

[2] The contract for her construction was signed with St André in April 1809, but was cancelled on 28 January 1810 when she was only 9⁄24ths complete.

[6] Following the Treaty of Fontainebleau, the victorious allies exiled Emperor Napoleon I to Elba after his forced abdication in 1814.

[8] In addition to transporting passengers and mail between Elba and Italy, with her crew augmented by 50 soldiers, she cruised against Barbary pirates.

[9][a] Napoleon temporarily relieved Taillade of command, replacing him with a man named Jean François Chautard.

After Napoleon's defeat in the Hundred Days, the French navy reintegrated Inconstant in March 1815.

[2] She then took part in the Spanish expedition in 1823, which restored the monarchy in Spain and put an end to the Trienio Liberal.

[2] In August 1824 Inconstant sailed from Rio de Janeiro to Sâo Salvador and then to Pernambuco, where she took up station.

[2] Inconstant left Saint Louis, Senegal on 6 February 1835 for France, ferrying officers of Africain.