She was built by master shipwright Phineas Pett and launched at Chatham Dockyard in 1677.

[1] She experienced a very long career of naval service spanning 139 years, having been rebuilt in 1727.

She was briefly commanded by William Fazeby in 1688, then by Greenvile Collins from 1689 and employed on surveying duties.

Sir Edward Hamilton was given command in July 1806, and remained in Mary until 1815, except for a brief period in 1809 when Thomas Francis Fremantle acted as captain.

[1] 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.