Launched in March 1778, she was commissioned in January 1779 for service in British home waters and the Caribbean, under the command of Captain Edward Thompson.

She saw active service in the blockade and capture of French-controlled Gorée in April 1779, and eight months later was part of Admiral George Rodney's fleet which sailed to the naval relief of Gibraltar in January 1780.

Thompson's orders were to use his ship and any other forces at his disposal to secure British control of Dutch settlements of Demerara and Essequibo.

This was achieved despite a lack of resources, with Hyaena subsequently escorting merchant convoys between these new British possessions and the larger port of Barbados, and thence to England.

Eighteen months in tropical waters had left her in poor condition, and she was promptly decommissioned and sailed to Woolwich dockyards for repair.

The works were extensive and were completed at a final expense of £5,561, more than half the cost of Hyaena's original construction four years earlier.

[1] While Hyaena was out of service her captain, Edward Thompson, had been assigned to the newly built HMS Grampus, a 50-gun ship of the line.

Command of Hyaena passed to Captain Patrick Sinclair, whose orders were to protect shipping in the seas immediately surrounding the British Isles.

[1] After a brief period of service in the Irish Sea under the command of Captain John Aylmer, she returned to the English Channel where she remained throughout 1790 and early 1791.

[1] Finally, after a further refit, Hyaena returned to overseas service under Captain William Hargood, sailing for Jamaica in October 1791.

[a] The French removed Hyaena's quarterdeck and forecastle to create a flush-deck, and renamed the modified vessel Hyène.

[16] However, Boyle was compelled to resign his appointment as a result of injuries that he sustained in March when he was thrown from a carriage before he could sail for Lisbon.

Disposal: The "Principal Officers and Commissioners of His Majesty's Navy" advised that on 24 February 1802, "Hyæna, 522 Tons, Copper-bottomed and Copper fastened, lying at Deptford", would be put up for sale.

[19] On 28 June 1803 Lloyd's List reported that the whaler Recovery had sent into Portsmouth the Swedish brig Ceres, which had been sailing from Lubeck to Marseilles.

[c] This article includes data released under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported UK: England & Wales Licence, by the National Maritime Museum, as part of the Warship Histories project.