[1][3] In 1778, in a context of increasing tensions between France and Britain due to the War of American Independence, Bouvet was recalled to serve in the French Royal Navy as an auxiliary Frigate Lieutenant, and appointed to the frigate Belle Poule,[4] upon request of her commanding officer, Chadeau de la Clocheterie.
He was then promoted to capitaine de brûlot[Note 1], and appointed to the 64-gun Sphinx as first officer, under Captain du Chillau.
[6][7] [Note 2] Sphinx was part of a squadron under Captain Suffren, tasked to reinforce the Dutch Cape Colony against a foreseen British invasion after the outbreak of the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War in 1780.
[9][6] Bouvet took part in the Battle of Porto Praya on 16 April 1781, where he directed maneuver when Sphinx took Annibal in tow after she lost her rigging in the action.
[12] A few days after the battle, Suffren summoned Bouvet and after chastising him for his breach of protocol, he congratulated him for his maneuver and promoted him to the command of the 18-gun corvette Fortune.
He furthermore recommended him for the Cross of the Order of Saint Louis, and presented him with a pair of luxurious British-made pistols that Hughes had gifted him.
[4][6] During the Siege of Toulon in August 1793, after a royalist plot surrendered the city to the British, Bouvet threatened to fight and negotiated safe passage for his four ships.