Marsouin was a gabarre, the name-ship of her three-vessel class, built to a design by Raymond-Antoine Haran, and launched in 1787 or 1788 at Bayonne.

[3] She carried troops, supplies, invalids, etc., across the Atlantic to the Caribbean or back until the British captured her in 1795.

Under his command she transported provisions from Brest to Cap-Français, via Lisbon, and invalids from Saint-Domingue to Lorient.

[7] In 1795 Marsouin, under the command of enseigne de vaisseau non-entretenu Gois,[8] was at Basse-Terre when she was ordered to sea to attempt to intercept a British privateer that was preying on French commerce.

[9] Unfortunately, on 11 March 1795, the day after she left Guadeloupe, Marsouin encountered the British frigate HMS Beaulieu, which was under the command of Captain Lancelot Skynner.