On her first voyage to the West Indies a French privateer captured her in a single-ship action; she was lost shortly thereafter.

[2][8] On 2 April 1804 Curlew, sloop of war, reportedly sailed from the North Seas station with a squadron, and store ships, to Boulogne.

[10] Pettigrew reported, when he reached The Downs, that the privateer that had captured him off Dungeness had that same day taken nine vessels that she had sent to Dunkirk.

Commander Thomas Young replaced Northey in November 1806, commissioning Curlew for the North Sea.

[2] On 13 October 1807, Abraham Lowe was promoted to Commander into Curlew,[14] an appointment that the Admiralty confirmed.

In late 1808 Commander John Tancock returned from the West Indies after an attack of yellow fever; he had been captain of Saint Christopher.

[6] The "Principal Officers and Commissioners of His Majesty's Navy" offered "Curlew Sloop, lying at Sheerness", for sale on 25 June 1810.

[21] A report a week later stated that Leander had been lost on her way into Tréguier, Côtes du Nord.