Diligent was the sixth of the six-vessel class of Vigilant-class brigs, and initially (October 1799), was designated No.

[1] Diligent was under the command of lieutenant de vaisseau Vincent Thevenard and part of a small squadron under Commodore Jean-Marthe-Adrien l'Hermite, in Régulus, that departed from Lorient on 22 October 1805.

[4] Diligent set out again a few days later with Thevenard searching for l'Hermite and his squadron at cayenne and the Antilles, but without success.

After stopping at Guadeloupe to make several essential repairs, Thevenard decided to cruise the Leeward Isles.

Thevenard wanted to maneuver to deliver a broadside but at a council of war with his officers that day, they advised staying away.

With a crew unwilling to man the guns, Thevenard eventually struck to Renard, a brig, without a shot being fired.

She was seven days out of Pointe a Petre, Guadeloupe, with dispatches for France, which she succeeded in throwing overboard while Renard was chasing her.

She had sailed from Concarneau to Cayenne, and was cruising in the Antilles prior to her capture by the English sloop "Fox".

"[7] In his discussion of the action, the author William James, in his naval history, made much of what he termed Thevenard's cowardice.

Lloyd's List reported that the brig Diligente detained the American schooner Polly, which was sailing from Havana to New Orleans, and sent her into Jamaica.

After a chase of two hours, Wolf was able to capture the Spanish privateer schooner Braganza, Joseph Caudanio, captain, of one gun and 54 men.