HMS Jersey was a member of the standardized 20-gun sixth rates built at the end of the 17th century.

Captain Thomas Fisher, RN took command on 11 April 1696 to proceed to the West Indies with a convoy.

On 10 March 1697 Captain Edmund Bugden, RN took command until he was dismissed by court martial in 1697.

[4] She was commissioned as HMS Margate around July 1699 under Captain Thomas Urry, RN.

In 1700 she was under command of Captain Philip Dawes, RN for service in America and the West Indies.