Sherborne was built at Woolwich Dockyard under the supervision of Master Shipwright Joseph Harris, to a design by Sir Thomas Slade, and was launched on 3 December 1763, having cost £1,581.8.9d to build and fit.

Sherborne was commissioned under Lieutenant John Cartwright, later to become a prominent parliamentary reformer, and was assigned to support the work of the Board of Customs by operating against smugglers in the English Channel.

His brother George, when at loose ends, went with him in Sherborne on a cruise out of Plymouth to chase smugglers.

In 1783 Sherborne participated in William Tracey's unsuccessful attempt to raise HMS Royal George, which had sunk in Spithead in 1782.

Although the dockyard rated Sherborne as unfitted for service, Tracey conducted some repairs and she was of some use.