In 1780, she sailed with Rear admiral George Rodney's fleet for the Relief of Gibraltar and on 8 January, assisted in an attack on a Caracas Convoy off the coast of Spain, capturing several Spanish merchant ships.

HMS Triton was a 28-gun sailing frigate built for the Royal Navy and designed by Thomas Slade, a modified version of his Mermaid class.

[1] When the design was resurrected for the second batch, it was presented with a slightly longer keel[a][1] and instead of the more common three equal-sized rectangular windows that comprised the quarter gallery lights, the central section was enlarged and sported a rounded top.

[4] Triton and her sister ships, HMS Greyhound and Boreas were also given an increased sheer fore and aft, raising the bowsprit in the process and necessitating other minor alterations to the topside.

[6] Triton's keel of 103 ft 4+5⁄8 in (31.512 m) was laid down in February at Bucklers Hard, Beaulieu, Hampshire under the supervision of the master shipwright Henry Adams.

[15] The vessels that had been carrying naval stores to the Spanish fleet at Cadiz, and baled goods for the Guipuzcoan Company of Caracas were sent to England under escort of HMS America and Pearl, while those loaded with provisions were added to the supplies bound for Gibraltar.

[14] After spending two days at Port Mahon the squadron left to rejoin Rodney, arriving on 14 February with dispatches from the island’s governor, James Murray, and news that no enemy ships had been encountered on either leg of the journey.

Rodney had by this time repaired his ships and having been ordered to the Leeward Islands Station on completion of the Gibraltar mission, set sail with his fleet on 18 February.

She was still serving there when Britain entered the French Revolutionary War in February 1793, part of a squadron under the station's commander, Commodore John Ford, comprising his flagship the fourth-rate Europa, two further sixth-rate frigates Penelope and Proserpine and five smaller craft.

[1][22] In April 1794 Captain Scory Barker took command and on 8 March 1795, Triton made on one final trip to Jamaica before returning to England with a convoy in August.