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

[1] Seaford was the second ship to bear this name since it was used for a 24-gun sixth rate purchased from Richard Herring of Bursledon on 27 December 1695 and captured by the French off the Scilly Islands on 5 May 1697 and burnt.

[2] She was ordered in the Fourth Batch of four ships from Portsmouth Dockyard to be built under the guidance of their Master Shipwright, William Bagwell.

In 1711 Commander Thomas Dravers, RN (promoted to Captain 1 January 1713) for voyage to Newfoundland in 1711, assigned to North Sea in 1712.

[5] She was ordered to be rebuilt as a 374-ton (builder's measure) 20 gun sixth rate under the guidance of the Deptford Master Shipwright, Richard Stacey.

[9] She was commissioned as a bomb vessel in 1727 under the command of Captain Perry Mayne, RN, for service in the Baltic.

[10] She underwent a middling repair at Woolwich at a cost of 3,090.12.7d[Note 3] from November to February 1732.

She was recommissioned in March 1737 under Captain Henry Scott, RN (later known as Lord Deloraine) for service at South Carolina.

In November 1739 Captain Savage Moyston, RN, took command and went to Lisbon followed by a stint in the Mediterranean.