Van Stabel was born to a family of sailors[1] and started a career in the merchant navy at the age of fourteen,[1][2] steadily rosing to the rank of sea captain.

[2] In 1778, with the intervention of France in the American Revolutionary War, Van Stabel enlisted in the French Royal Navy as an auxiliary officer.

[1] Instead of the convoy and its expected four-ship escort[note 2] under Sir John Jervis,[7] Van Stabel's division met a 28-ship squadron under Admiral Howe.

[1] Van Stabel ordered a retreat, but Sémillante's inferior nautical qualities made her lag behind the division, and she was soon overhauled by a British frigate;[7] Van Stabel sailed Tigre independently to rescue her,[7] and in the course of a chase that lasted several days,[8] managed to pry seventeen merchantmen for the convoy[9] without granting Howe a head-on engagement before returning to Brest.

[9] Later than year, Van Stabel was tasked with escorting a food convoy gathered by Captain Émeriau, of the frigate Embuscade,[10] from the Chesapeake to France.

[1] Van Stabel then returned to Vlissingen to conduct patrols in the North Sea[1] at the head of a division comprising four frigates and a number of corvettes.