She was formerly the French privateer Revanche, which Captain Edward Pakenham and Resistance captured in the Sunda Strait, East Indies, on 21 October 1794.

[2] Hobart served on the East Indies Station and on 1 October 1795 was under the command of Captain Benjamin William Page.

[1] She then carried a detachment of the 52nd Regiment of Foot, commanded by Captain Charles Monson, which took possession of Molletive, Ceylon.

[3] In early 1796 Rear-admiral Peter Rainier led a squadron composed of HMS Suffolk, Centurion, Resistance, Orpheus, and Swift to attack Dutch possessions in the Banda or Nutmeg islands.

One or two armed ships belonging to the British East India Company, and three transports carrying troops completed the expedition.

However, after the capture on 22 January in the straits of Banca of the brig Harlingen with important dispatches, Rainier had Hobart carry them to Madras.