Sprightly shared with the frigate Amphitrite, sloop Fairy, and the cutters Griffin, Flying Fish, and Wells, in the capture on 24 May 1779 of the French privateers Dunkerque and Prince de Robcq, which had "eight ransomers" aboard.

[2] Sprightly was one of the vessels that shared in the award to the squadron of £15,000 for her role in the Affair of Fielding and Bylandt.

[3] This was a brief naval engagement off the Isle of Wight on 31 December 1779 between a Royal Navy squadron under the command of Commodore Charles Fielding, and a naval squadron of the Dutch Republic under the command of Rear-admiral Lodewijk van Bylandt, which was escorting a Dutch convoy.

[6] Sprightly, was among the vessels that shared in the proceeds of the capture of the Dutch warship Princess Caroline on 30 December.

[7] Around 2 January 1781 the cutters Sprightly, Repulse, and Expedition brought several captured Dutch vessels into The Downs.

Consequently, she shared in the prize money for the Dutch warships, East Indiamen, and merchant vessels that were there too and that the British seized.

On 20 January 1801, Sprightly left Plymouth, as did a number of other cutters, under orders to stop all Danish, Swedish, and Russian vessels.

[17] Next, Sprightly was on her way to Gibraltar with dispatches when she had the misfortune to encounter a French squadron under Admiral Ganteaume about 40 miles south-west of Cape de Gata.

[20] Jump underwent a court martial on 6 May aboard HMS Gladiator for the loss of his vessel and was acquitted.