Terpsichore served mostly in the Mediterranean, capturing three frigates, and in 1797 went as far as to attack the damaged Spanish first rate Santísima Trinidad, as she limped away from the Battle of Cape St Vincent.

[1] After nearly a decade spent laid up she commissioned under her first captain, Sampson Edwards, in August 1793 and sailed for the Leeward Islands in December that year.

[1] She captured the privateer Montague on 16 August 1794, and in September that year Sampson left the ship, being replaced by Captain Richard Bowen.

[1] Bowen was sent to North America, where he learnt that HMS Daedalus, under Captain Sir Charles Knowles, was being blockaded in the Chesapeake by two French frigates.

[5] Bowen and the Terpsichore spent some time in the North Sea, until December 1795, when his old patron, Jervis, replaced Admiral William Hotham as commander of the Mediterranean Fleet.

[5] Jervis requested Bowen to come out and take command of a squadron of small vessels operating around Gibraltar in defence of British trade and the garrison there.

After closing on her, and determining that she was attempting to manoeuvre into a position to better fight the Terpsichore, Bowen ordered a gun be fired to test her intent.

When dawn broke the next day Bowen discovered that the French had risen up against the prize crew and retaken the ship, sailing her into Cadiz.

Now bereft of his prize, Bowen returned to port empty handed, writing to Jervis that 'As we feel conscious of having done out duty, to the utmost of our power, we endeavour to console ourselves with the expectation of our conduct being approved.

I lament exceedingly that you and your brave crew were deprived of the substantial reward of your exertions; but you cannot fail to receive the tribute due to you from the government and country at large.

He immediately set out to join the fleet, and having fallen in with several other British frigates, including HMS Emerald, came across the Spanish first rate Santísima Trinidad.

He opened fire on the massive Spanish vessel, at the time the world's largest warship, carrying 136-guns on four decks, over a hundred more guns than Terpsichore.

On the night of 17/18 April a joint cutting out expedition was mounted by the two British frigates, each sending three boats of which those from Terpsichore under the command of its first lieutenant (Lieutenant George Thorp) successfully captured the nearer of the Indiamen to the shore,[14] Principe Fernando, sailing and towing her to sea while under fire from shore batteries for two hours.

He led forty or fifty of his men and managed to land on the mole and take the battery covering the harbour by storm, spiking its guns, and was advancing into the town in pursuit of the fleeing Spanish.

On 18 October, an Anglo-Portuguese squadron shared in the capture of the Ragusan polacca Madonna Della Gratia e San Gaetano, which was carrying plate, amongst other cargo.

Captain John Mackellar took command in 1801, transferring from Jamaica, sailing Terpsichore to the East Indies in June that year with dispatches and a large quantity of specie.

The EIC gave him command of the 48-gun Marquis Cornwallis, and a small flotilla consisting of the country ship Upton Castle, Betsey (an armed HEIC brig), some other vessels, and 1000 troops.

[23] Then on 27 March 1802 the authorities in Bombay received news that the Governor, the Honourable Johnathan Duncan, while negotiating with local princes in Gujarat, had come under attack and had had to take refuge at Surat.

[23] Mackellar was court-martialled on 20–26 May 1802 and dismissed the service for violating the Second (drunkenness and scandalous conduct) and Thirty-third (failure to follow orders while on shore) Articles of War.

[1] Commander Joseph Bogue may have been in charge of Terpsichore until his death in July 1806, or possibly serving alongside Captain William Lye.

Captain Elliot of Modeste sent his boats, together with those of Terpsichore and Dasher up the Hooghly River to Serampore to seize the seven Danish merchant vessels there.

As the strange ship approached, Montagu was able to determine her to be hostile, and Terpsichore opened fire, which was returned and a general action began.

[26] The enemy ship, which was the 40-gun French frigate Sémillante under Captain Léonard-Bernard Motard, closed at 7.10 and threw some combustible materials onto the deck, which caused a large explosion amongst boxes of powder.

To reduce risk, the crew flooded the magazine, leaving her without usable powder, Sémillante had no choice but to break off the action with Terpsichore and return to port.

[28] The French eventually resorted to throwing overboard her boats, lumber, water and provisions and so Sémillante was finally able to pull away and escape her pursuers.

[28] Terpsichore's losses were almost entirely caused by the explosion of the powder boxes, and amounted to one lieutenant and twenty men killed and twenty-two wounded, two of them mortally.

[29] A report from Île de France stated that the principle damage to Sémillante was due to an explosion in a room near the magazine, during the action.

To reduce risk, the crew flooded the magazine; without usable powder, Sémillante had no choice but to attempt to break off the action with Terpsichore and return to port.

Baudin recounts, in his memoirs, the kindnesses showed to him by an Englishwoman, wife of Captain Skene, master of the Gilwell, a prize Sémillante had taken earlier.

[1] On 15 February 1809 she sailed from Point de Galle with HMS Culloden escorting a fleet of 15 East Indiamen bound for England.