Her most notable exploit occurred on her fifth voyage, when she participated on 15 June 1795 in the capture of seven Dutch East Indiamen.

Frequently these convoys had as escorts vessels of the British Royal Navy, though generally not past India, or before they were on the return leg.

Like many other East Indiamen during the French Revolutionary Wars, General Goddard sailed under letters of marque.

[7] General Goddard, still under the command of Captain Thomas Foxall, left the Downs on 17 December 1785, reaching Madeira on 5 January 1786.

[7] For her fourth voyage, General Goddard was under the command of Captain Thomas Wakefield, with William Taylor Money as his first lieutenant.

[7] With war with France looming, General Goddard's first letter of marque was issued on 9 March 1793 to Captain Wakefield, presumably applied for by the HEIC in his absence.

[4] The British government held General Goddard at Portsmouth, together with a number of other Indiamen in anticipation of using them as transports for an attack on Île de France (Mauritius).

Money then sailed General Goddard from Portsmouth on 2 May 1794, reached Madras on 11 September, and arrived at Diamond Harbour on 10 October.

[7] While General Goddard was at St Helena, the 64-gun third rate HMS Sceptre, under the command of Captain William Essington, arrived with a convoy of HEIC ships sailing to India and China.

[11] The eight unescorted Dutch East Indiaman that had sailed on 22 May encountered Sceptre, General Goddard, and Swallow near Saint Helena.

Essington had prevailed upon Colonel Robert Brooke, the governor of St Helena, to lend him some troops and to put the HEIC vessels there at the time under his command to form a squadron to try and intercept the Dutch.

[12] Three days later, the British captured the Dutch Indiaman Hougly, which Swallow escorted into St Helena, before returning to the squadron with additional seamen.

[13] On 1 July, Sceptre, General Goddard and the prizes sailed from St Helena to gather in other returning British East Indiamen.

[14] The entire convoy, now some 20 vessels or so strong, sailed from there on 22 August for Shannon, where most arrived on 13 December, though three were lost.

[7] Because the captures occurred before Britain had declared war on the Batavian Republic, the vessels became Droits to the Crown.

Most of this money, £61,331 15s 2d, was distributed among the officers and crew of Sceptre, General Goddard, Busbridge, Asia, and Swallow.

[21] The captains of all the vessels sued the EIC for reimbursement for expenses consequent on the delay to their homeward bound journeys, and for the eight regular ships, the additional risks involved in the detours to Penang.

[20] General Goddard sailed homeward bound, passing Saugor on 19 December and arriving at Madras again on 4 February 1798.

[4] In autumn 1799, General Goddard was part of a convoy that consisted of vessels from England and Cork, sailing to Jamaica under escort by the frigate Crescent and the sloop Calypso.

The convoy was negotiating the Mona Passage and was 10 or 12 leagues (48 or 58 km) south-west of Puerto Rico on the morning of 15 November when it encountered a small Spanish squadron that was sailing from Santo Domingo to Havana.

[24] Galgo, which had left the Spanish squadron for the Havannah the day before (and thus took no direct part in the action), had the misfortune of being captured by the frigate Crescent.

[29] On 17 December 1973, St Helena issued a 6p stamp to commemorate General Goddard's capture of the Dutch East Indiamen.