After her hand-over to British control she spent several weeks laying opposite and firing on a shore battery of 24-pounders at the head of La Seine in Toulon harbor.

[3] In February and March 1796 Puissant was fitted as a receiving ship (at a cost of £10,044) and was commissioned in April under Commander David Hotchkiss.

[4][5] Later that same year James Nehemiah Taylor, surgeon of HMS Jamaica, was held prisoner on board Puissant while awaiting execution for the crime of buggery.

[6] Commander James Irwin replaced Captain Hall in April 1810, who moved to HMS Royal William.

[9][a] Then on 27 August 1808, Puissant and the "armed cutter" Linnet shared in the detention of the Danish ship Deodaris.

Lastly, when news of the outbreak of the War of 1812 reached Britain, the Royal Navy seized all American vessels then in British ports.

Puissant was among the Royal Navy vessels then lying at Spithead or Portsmouth and so entitled to share in the grant for the American ships Belleville, Janus, Aeos, Ganges, and Leonidas seized there on 31 July 1812.