[4] Arethusa was assigned to the British Western Frigate Squadron under Commodore John Borlase Warren.

Leaving Babet to be finished by Melampus, Arethusa then engaged Pomone, coming to within pistol range at 8.30 a.m. and raking her repeatedly.

Within twenty-five minutes one of the finest new French frigates was a ruin, her main and mizzen masts shot away and a fire burning on her aft deck.

[10][b] On 31 January 1795 Arethusa was part of a squadron under Captain Sir John Borlase Warren that captured the Dutch East India ship Ostenhuyson.

[12] At Port of Spain they found a Spanish squadron consisting of four ships of the line and a frigate, all under the command of Rear-Admiral Don Sebastian Ruiz de Apodaca.

[14] On 17 April, Arethusa, along with 60 other warships and transports, appeared off the Spanish colonial port city of San Juan, Puerto Rico.

At daybreak on 10 August, Arethusa, commanded by Captain Thomas Wolley, was in the Atlantic Ocean at 30°49′N 55°50′W / 30.817°N 55.833°W / 30.817; -55.833 when she sighted three ships to windward.

On 22 August 1798 a force of 1,100 French soldiers landed in County Mayo to support a major rebellion in Ireland and the militias across the whole of the south of England were mobilized.

[18] On 12 December 1805, Arethusa, Boadicea and Wasp left Cork, escorting a convoy of 23 merchant vessels.

Four days later the convoy encountered a French squadron consisting of five ships of the line and four sailing frigates, as well as nine other vessels that were too far away for assessment.

A letter writer to the Naval Chronicle, describing the encounter, surmised that the distant vessels were the Africa squadron that had been escorted by Lark and that they had captured.

[19] During the action of 23 August 1806, Arethusa and Anson captured the Spanish frigate Pomona,[d] as well as destroying a shore battery and defeating a fleet of gunboats.

In 1847 the Admiralty authorized the issue of the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "Curacoa 1 Jany.

On 29 November 1808, Arethusa was some eight or nine leagues (39 or 43 km) north west of Alderney when she sighted and gave chase to a lugger making for the coast of France.

Captain Robert Mends, in his letter, was fulsome in his praise of Général Ernouf, recommending that the Royal Navy acquire her.

Arethusa arrived on the scene that evening, firing a couple of broadsides at the badly damaged French ship.

[23][24] In May 1811 Arethusa sailed to Cape Verde as escort to a convoy East Indiamen bound for the India and China.

While cruising the coast Arethusa was to examine bays and creeks looking for vessels engaged in the slave trade.

[25] In late June Arethusa grounded on a sunken rock off Factory Island in the Isles de Los.

Her launch reached Freetown, Sierra Leone on 1 July, and Tigress and Myrtle sailed to her assistance, joined a few days later by Protector.