She was previously the West Indiaman Sarah Ann, launched at Newcastle upon Tyne in 1800 that the Admiralty purchased in October 1803.

She then participated in the bombardments of Le Havre on 23 July 1804 as part of a squadron under Captain R. Dudley Oliver of Melpomene.

At one point during the bombardment Meteor had to resupply two of her fellow bomb vessels, Explosion and Zebra with shells and powder.

[15] Although details are missing, Meteor apparently next participated in an attack on batteries and gun-boats in the Bay of Naples.

Gunfire and bombardment from Excellent and Meteor helped repel several French attacks, and a landing party of Marines and seamen reinforced the Spanish garrisons.

[16] The bomb vessel Lucifer and the Third Rates Fame and Magnificent arrived later, with the frigate Imperieuse under Captain Lord Cochrane joining the defense towards the end of November.

[17] In the fighting on 7 and 20 November, eight men on Meteor were wounded, one, a Royal Marine gunner, losing both arms.

[3] George and Charles Garthorne Burrell, of North Shields, purchased Meteor and registered her as Sarah Ann at Newcastle on 24 November 1811.

[20][21] 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.