Returning to North America in March 1776, to fight in the American Revolutionary War, Pearl escorted the transports which landed troops in Kip's Bay that September.

She joined Vice-Admiral Marriot Arbuthnot's squadron in July 1780, capturing the 28-gun French frigate Esperance while stationed off Bermuda in September; the following March she took part in the First Battle of Virginia Capes, where she had responsibility for relaying signals.

On her return to the American continent, she narrowly escaped capture by a French squadron anchored between the Îles de Los and was forced to put into Sierra Leone for repairs following the engagement.

[5] Wilkinson returned Pearl to North America in April to fight in the American Revolutionary War, bringing a convoy of troopships from Ireland to Quebec, with the sixth-rate frigate HMS Carysfort,[5][6] before escorting transports along the Hudson River to take part in the landings at Kip's Bay, New York, in September.

On the day of the landings, 15 September, the small squadron passed the enemy batteries without incident and anchored at Bloomingdale, 6 miles (9.7 km) upstream of New York.

[8] Towards the end of the year, Pearl joined a small squadron under Captain Andrew Snape Hamond on a cruise along the coast to South Carolina and, on 20 December, captured the USS Lexington, a 16-gun sloop of war of the Continental Navy.

[11][13][14] Despite the time spent in port, Pearl managed more than a dozen captures between January and May 1777, including Batchelor on 21 March (suspected of piracy because of its armament) and a whaleboat from Lewes, Delaware, on 29 May that was thought to be spying.

[15][16] Another change in command occurred in 1777 when John Linzee was appointed as captain[5][Note 1] and on 6 July, boats from Pearl and Camilla captured and burnt the schooner, USS Mosquito in a cutting out expedition.

A signal gun was fired to warn her tender, which was ashore collecting supplies, then the ship weighed anchor and sailed off but ran aground on Cross Ledge.

[20] When American land forces were defeated at the Battle of Brandywine near Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, and retreated to Philadelphia that September, Pearl was part of a squadron tasked with opening up the Delaware River, which had been heavily protected with redoubts and sunken obstructions to prevent its navigation.

[23] On 22 September, Pearl, Roebuck, Liverpool and the third-rate, 64-gun HMS Augusta, forced a passage in order to support an attack on Red Bank by British troops.

Augusta ran aground and caught fire, and Merlin blew up; Pearl and the remaining force broke off the attack and returned to Billingsport.

A hulk was converted to a floating gun platform and with the assistance of Pearl, Roebuck and Liverpool, a six-day bombardment of Fort Mifflin forced the Americans out.

[32] The French force, under Comte d'Estaing, entered the bay on 29 July and attacked British positions on Conanicut and Goat Island the following day.

[33] On 8 August, 4,000 French soldiers and sailors were landed to reinforce the 10,000 American troops who had just crossed from the mainland to lay siege to the British garrison on Rhode Island.

[37] Howe left for England in September 1778, and Pearl joined a squadron under Rear-Admiral John Byron, watching the French fleet in Boston harbour.

[38][39] D'Estaing's fleet of 15 ships-of-the-line left Boston on 3 November 1778, two days after Byron's squadron had been blown off station and driven into Newport, Rhode Island by more bad weather.

[38][39] Pearl was despatched to carry news of the escape to the Commander-in-Chief of the Leeward Islands Station, Rear-Admiral Samuel Barrington; Byron was to follow two to three days later if he was unable to locate the French.

[40] On 10 December, Commodore William Hotham with a convoy of 5,000 troops and a small escort, arrived at Barbados, giving the British numerical superiority in the area.

Captain Alexander Graeme took command of the ship on 9 January 1779 and she left Antigua on 16 February in the company of the 74-gun third-rate, HMS Sultan with despatches from both Byron and Barrington, and arrived at Spithead on 22 March.

A portion of the captured ships were carrying naval supplies and these were despatched to England with Pearl and 64-gun third-rate, HMS America as escorts, while the remaining prizes were sent to Gibraltar.

[48] The ship later returned to North America, spending some time at Halifax, Nova Scotia before leaving, with the 74-gun third-rate, HMS Robust, to join Vice-Admiral Marriot Arbuthnot's squadron off Sandy Hook on 3 July 1780, where preparations were being made to repel an expected attack by the French fleet.

[53] The British caught up by 13:00 and found themselves to windward of the French after some manoeuvring, where the increasingly strong winds and high seas prevented them from opening their lower gunports.

She continued to harass enemy shipping, taking the French privateer Singe, a large polacca, on 10 July 1781[57] and the 8-gun American Senegal of 50 tons burthen, on 19 August,[58] plus three merchant vessels before the year was out.

[5] While passing through the Îles de Los, an archipelago off the coast of Guinea, she discovered an enemy squadron comprising four large ships at anchor and a brig under sail.

[5] On 22 October 1799, Pearl was sent to the Mediterranean where she spent much of the following 12 months attempting to disrupt enemy trade by attacking the numerous merchant vessels along the European coast.

[85][87] While cruising with the 32-gun fifth-rate HMS Santa Teresa on 28 February, Pearl took a Genoese merchant ship on its way home, laden with goods from Marseilles.

[5] Pearl was in Commodore John Borlase Warren's squadron when, on 1 August, it was called to the island of Elba to relieve the British garrison at Porto Ferrajo, which had been under siege since the beginning of May.

[92][Note 6] The next day at 14:30, Phoenix, Pomone and Pearl were cruising off the west side of Elba, when they spotted the 40-gun Carrère, on her passage from Porto-Ercole to Porto-Longone with a convoy of small vessels.

[91][94] His majesty's ships Pearl, Pomone, the ships-of-the-line Renown, Gibraltar, Dragon, Alexander, Généreux and Stately, and the brig Vincejo, supplied nearly 700 seamen and marines for an attack on the French batteries investing the town.