For her return voyage she passed Saugor on 8 February 1785, reached the Cape on 5 May and St Helena on 5 June, and arrived at the Downs on 17 August.

[3] Captain William Hardcastle left the Downs on 13 March 1786, bound for Bengal, Bombay, and China.

[3] Captain Edward Coxwell left the Downs on 17 April 1790 for China, and arrived at Whampoa on 27 August.

[3] The French Revolutionary Wars having broken out, Captain Edward Brown received a letter of marque on 17 April 1793.

On 4 December she passed Saugor, reaching Madras on 7 Feb 1796 and St Helena on 7 May, and arriving at the Downs on 3 August.

[10][6] Under the command of William Hingston (or Kingston),[10] Hillsborough sailed from Gravesend via Portland Roads, England, on 23 December 1798, and arrived at Port Jackson on 26 July 1799.

She had left with 300 male convicts, but 95 died of yellow fever and dysentery on the voyage,[11] and six more shortly after landing.

[12] Governor Hunter wrote a letter to the Secretary of the Colonies:[13] The Hillsborough has just arrived with a cargo of the most miserable and wretched convicts I ever beheld.

Were you, my dear Sir, in the situation in which I stand, I am convinced all the feelings of humanity, every sensation which can occasion a pang for the distresses of a fellow creature, would be seen to operate in you with full force.While at Port Jackson Hillsborough received a new master, Captain Robert Rhodes,[10] who had come out to New South Wales as mate on Hillsborough.

[e] As Hillsborough was preparing to sail from Sydney Cove in October, a strict search found 30 stowaways aboard her.

[16] Forty years later, James Clark Ross spent some months in the islands during his expedition to the Antarctic in Terror and Erebus.

[6] Daniel Bennett now shared her ownership with Charles Price, and her master was Captain Thomas Pittman (or Pitman).