The new ship was laid down in January 1723 under the supervision of Master Shipwright Richard Stacey, and was launched on 17 October 1726, having cost £6,376.1.7d to build.

[1] While in home waters Pearl underwent a small repair at Woolwich Dockyard between January and April 1733, before recommissioning under her former commander, Captain Trotter.

Pearl went back to the Leeward Islands, returning to Britain once more and undergoing a more substantial repair at Sheerness from October 1737 to May 1738, Trotter having left the ship in 1736.

With the War of Jenkins' Ear having broken out, she departed England on 23 July 1739 with Admiral Edward Vernon's squadron, bound for Lisbon.

[1] In June 1740 she came under the command of Captain Matthew Michell, this time assigned to the squadron under Commodore George Anson, with orders to raid Spanish possessions in the Pacific.