On 30 March 1797 he attempted to cut out a schooner on the northern coast of Hispaniola when Port Royal ran aground on the shore near Môle-Saint-Nicolas.
[1][a] The Royal Navy recommissioned her in November, renamed her HMS Recovery, and armed her with ten 3-pounder guns.
On 17 April 1798 she was under the command of Lieutenant William Ross when she encountered the French privateer schooner Revanche.
[5] In his report, Ross remarked that his crew were most of them young and inexperienced Boys and Lads, but it is with real Satisfaction that I assure you, that all of them displayed the greatest Cheerfulness and Firmness during the Action, and that their Conduct would do much honour to the most experienced Seamen.
[5]Then on 29 April near Saint Ann's Bay, Jamaica, Recovery encountered the French privateer schooner Incrédule, which she captured after a chase of two hours.
[2] Recovery may be the brig of 92 tons (bm), of French origin, and built in 1796 that entered Lloyd's Register in 1801.