She was captured in 1793 at the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars and thus came into British hands, keeping her name (occasionally reported as Indispensable).

Amongst her notable events were the discovery of Indispensable Strait (1794), the capture of a Spanish vessel (1798), and the rescue of some castaways (1814).

In 1793 she was on her way to the West Indies under the command of Arnaud Florence when the Guernsey privateer Tartar, Peter Le Lacheur, master, captured her.

She departed for Bengal on 7 July 1794, in company with the American vessel Halcyon, Captain Benjamin Page.

Wilkinson left Whampoa on 24 January 1795, reached St Helena on 14 April, and arrived at the Downs on 23 July.

[10] On her first convict voyage under the command of William Wilkinson, Indispensable sailed from England on 5 November 1795.

[1] She stopped at Rio de Janeiro in January to replenish her water,[11] and arrived at Port Jackson on 30 April 1796.

Indispensable undertook numerous whaling voyages before returning to England in October 1800, and sailed to Sydney for careening and refit in 1797–98.

[11] On 24 December 1800 Calvin Gardner (or Gardiner) was captain of Indispensable, and received a letter of marque[3] (applicable to a person, not a vessel).

[11] Robert Turnbull received a letter of marque on 20 March 1806,[3] Indispensible was also mentioned in the Protection List for that year.

[11] The whaler Indispensable was reported to have been well at New Zeeland [sic] in April 1807,[19] and July, and whaling off the River Derwent.

[13] The whaler Indispensable, Captain Best, was reported leaving New South Wales (Port Jackson), in mid-September 1811.

She was sailing to New Zealand to complete her cargo and would then return to Britain directly;[23] she arrived in July 1812,[11] with 175 tons of sperm oil.

[24] Indispensible sailed for the South Seas whale fishery in December 1812 under the command of William Buckle.

[d] She returned to Britain, arriving on 31 May 1814 at Deal with several Indiamen (including Baring, Charles Mills, and Fairlie), and another whaler, all under escort by HMS Cornwallis.

British ships were then free to sail to India or the Indian Ocean under a licence from the EIC.

Barnard had rescued the crew of Isabella in April 1813, only to have them take over his ship and leave him and the four men stranded on New Island.

[24] Captain George Brown sailed Indispensible from Britain on 17 May 1818, again with destination South Georgia.

She was reported to have been towards the Cape of Good Hope on 22 August, later at South Georgia with 22 tuns of whale oil.

[1] Indispensable appears in Lloyd's Register in 1806 with C. Gardner as master, Bennett as owner, and trade as London and South Seas Fisheries.