Drake was the first of three small, fast vessels designed by Surveyor of the Navy Jacob Acworth to guard merchant convoys in British home waters after the declaration of war against Spain in 1739.

Although fitted with seven pairs of gunports along her upper deck, she was armed with only eight four-pounder cannons with the remaining ports left unused.

She assisted convoys in waters surrounding the Channel Islands for the remainder of that year, then sailed for Gibraltar in December.

On 22 November 1742, Drake was under the temporary command of Lieutenant Nathaniel Stephens when she was wrecked in Gibraltar harbour and left in an unsalvageable condition.

The wreck lay abandoned on the Gibraltar shore for several years; it was finally sold out of service on 13 October 1748.