[3] Success was commissioned in March 1781 under the command of Captain Charles Morice Pole,[2] to serve in the American Revolutionary War, where she made several captures.

[5] The following year, in the action of 16 March 1782, while escorting the storeship Vernon to Gibraltar, Success fought, captured, and burned the 34-gun Spanish frigate Santa Catalina off Cape Spartel.

She remained in ordinary until November 1790 when a "great repair" began at Gravesend, which was not completed until December 1792, at a cost of £15,938, just in time for the beginning of the French Revolutionary Wars.

After a fierce action, in which Success suffered three killed and nine badly wounded, she proved to be the Bella Aurora, sailing from Genoa to Barcelona with a cargo of cotton, silk and rice, and armed with 10 guns, all 9- or 6-pounders.

[25] On 25 June she captured the French aviso Entreprenant (or Intraprenant), under the command of Enseigne Louis Podesta,[26] with four guns and a crew of 36 men, carrying provisions from Santa Messa to Valletta.

[27] The next day Success captured another aviso, Redoutable, under Enseigne Jean Pierre Louis Barallier,[28] with the same armament, establishment, and mission as Entreprenant.

[21] When interrogated, Peard falsely claimed that British forces had landed on the coast of Egypt (which did not occur until 8 March), and that Rear-Admiral Sir John Borlase Warren, with a powerful squadron, was close by and in pursuit.

Pomone re-captured Success while Minerve ran the 46-gun French frigate Bravoure onshore, with her crew of 283 men under the command of Monsieur Dordelin.

[33] By December 1801 Success was back in commission, under the command of Captain George Burlton, but was paid off following the signing of the peace treaty between Britain and France in March 1802.

[38] Early on 20 November 1806, while just east of Guantánamo Bay (known as Cumberland Harbour to the British), Ayscough observed a felucca running into Hidden Port.

He sent the ship's barge and yawl in pursuit, but on reaching the shore they discovered that about 50 armed men had landed from the felucca, which was lashed to a tree, and had taken a position at the top of a small hill overlooking the beach, upon which they had mounted a single long gun.

[44] In early June 1809 Success took part in a joint expedition against Murat in Naples, from Sicily, led by Lieutenant-General John Stuart, with Rear Admiral George Martin commanding the naval forces.

[45] Captain Ayscough landed with the troops, but finding little to do on shore returned to his ship where he engaged the enemy's batteries, and succeeded in destroying several gun-boats.

[38] The British captured several coastal batteries and about 300 men, but the main body of the enemy under General Colonna, held out in the Castello Aragonese until 30 June before eventually surrendering.

[45] On 26 June 1809 gunboats under Ayscough's direction assisted Cyane in the capture and destruction of 18 armed gun-boats which were attempting to reach Naples from Gaeta.

[48] On 25 April 1810, Success in company with the frigate Spartan, Captain Jahleel Brenton, and the brig-sloop Espoir, Commander Robert Mitford, observed a ship, three barks, and several feluccas at anchor under the castle of Terracina.

[49] On 1 May 1810, Success and Spartan pursued a French squadron, consisting of the 42-gun frigate Ceres, 28-gun corvette Fame, 8-gun brig Sparviere and the 10-gun cutter Achilles.

The French managed to take shelter in the harbour of Naples, and Captain Brenton of Spartan, realising they would never come out while the two British ships were there, ordered Success to a point south-west of Capri.

At dawn on 3 May Brenton observed the French coming out, accompanied by eight Neapolitan gun-boats, and in a hard-fought action succeeded in boarding and capturing the brig Sparviere, and causing severe damage to the other ships.

[52] Ayscough, with two other frigates and several sloops under his command, was then assigned to patrol the Strait of Messina, to protect Sicily against a threatened invasion by Murat, who had concentrated about 40,000 troops and 200 gun-boats.

[38] Murat launched his attack early on 18 September, with troops sailing from Scilla and Reggio, landing on the Punta del Faro, and at Mili Marina, south of Messina.

[53] Ayscough was next employed, with seven vessels under his command, reconnoitring the coast between Naples and Civita Vecchia, near Rome, but Success was seriously damaged during a severe gale while off Crete, and was obliged to return to England in mid-1811 for repairs.

[59] This article includes data released under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported UK: England & Wales Licence, by the National Maritime Museum, as part of the Warship Histories project.