Her most famous action was the capture of the much larger French frigate Furieuse on 6 July 1809, for which her crew earned the Naval General Service Medal.

Bonne Citoyenne (French for 'good citizen') was built and launched in 1794, put into service in 1795 and served in the English Channel and the Bay of Biscay.

[3] Two men from Bonne Citoyenne, Sélis, who had been chief helmsman, and Thierry, a pilot, made an unsuccessful attempt to escape from Petersfield Prison after seven months captivity.

[5] On the way they fomented a mutiny, seized the vessel, and took her into Rio de Janeiro, where a French frigate squadron under Captain Landolphe, comprising Médée, Franchise and Concorde, rescued them.

[8] Bonne Citoyenne was in company with the other vessels of Garlies' squadron when they captured the Spanish brigs San Juan Baptista on 6 February and Virgine de Monserrate three days later.

[9] Bonne Citoyenne was at the Battle of Cape St Vincent on 14 February, when she signaled Admiral John Jervis that she had sighted the French fleet.

Jervis then sent a squadron, that included Bonne Citoyenne, under Captain Velters Cornewall Berkeley in Emerald to find the 130-gun Santissima Trinidad.

[3] Bonne Citoyenne then had a productive summer capturing two privateers and numerous other vessels:[13] Commander Josiah Nisbet replaced Retalick in May 1798.

[14] Bonne Cityonne joined Admiral Horatio Nelson's squadron and went out with it to the Mediterranean,[15] but did not arrive at Abu Qir Bay until ten days after the Battle of the Nile.

[3] Bonne Citoyenne was among the many vessels of the Malta blockade sharing in the prize money accruing from the capture on 18 February of the French warship Genereux.

[20][d] Bonne Citoyenne was also among the vessels sharing in the proceeds from the capture of the French frigate Dianne on 25 August off Malta as she and Justice attempted to escape.

[22] On 18 October, an Anglo-Portuguese squadron shared in the capture of the Ragusan polacca Madonna Della Gratia e San Gaetano, which was carrying plate, amongst other cargo.

[25] On 31 December 1800 Jackson and Bonne Citoyenne captured the Spanish privateer settee Vives about 20 leagues off Cape Mola, outside Port Mahon.

She was ten days out of Palma and had previously captured a merchant vessel carrying wine from Port Mahon to Citadella.

On 9 June, Bonne Citoyenne, and the brig-sloops Port Mahon and Victorieuse captured Bonaparte, Vierge de Nieges, Felicité and.

[29] After the Battle of Alexandria and the subsequent siege, Captain Alexander Cochrane in the 74-gun third rate Ajax, with Bonne Citoyenne, Cynthia, Victorieuse and Port Mahon and three Turkish corvettes, were able to enter the harbour on 21 August.

[30] In 1850 the Admiralty awarded the Naval general Service Medal with clasp "Egypt" to the crews of any vessel that had served in the campaign between 8 March and 2 September 1801.

[34] Bonne Citoyenne returned to England after delivering the despatches, and on 18 June sailed from Spithead in company with HMS Inflexible.

Whilst she escorted the convoy, on 2 July, lookouts spotted a suspicious sail astern, and Mounsey dropped back to investigate.

Despite the frigate's substantially larger size, Mounsey immediately gave chase, at which the French ship fled northwards.

[35] After a chase lasting 18 hours Bonne Citoyenne caught up with the French ship on the morning of 6 July and brought her to battle.

Running out of powder Mounsey decided to force the issue and ordered his men to be prepared to board the French ship.

[35] The enemy ship was discovered to be Furieuse, which had sailed from the Îles des Saintes on 1 April, carrying sugar and coffee to France.

[35] Furieuse had suffered heavy damage; she had lost her masts, had five feet of water in the hold, and her casualties numbered 35 killed and 37 wounded.

Bonne Citoyenne's first lieutenant received a promotion to commander and Mounsey one to post captain, effective 6 July, i.e., the date of the battle.

Bonne Citoyenne was based at the River Plate, and Greene was the senior officer of the station from December 1811 to September 1812 when Captain Peter Heywood arrived.

[39] With the outbreak of the War of 1812 Greene took on a cargo of specie, worth some half a million pounds, and sailed from Rio de Janeiro.

James Lawrence of Hornet sent a challenge to Greene, offering a single ship combat, with Commodore William Bainbridge of Constitution pledging not to intervene in any way.

The arrival of the third rate Montagu on 24 January 1813 finally forced Hornet to leave; she sailed for the Caribbean where off the Demerara River she encountered and captured the sloop HMS Peacock, which subsequently sank.