On the way, Gibraltar stopped at Rio de Janeiro, where Bickerton purchased a 14-gun cutter which he named Substitute, giving command to Fancourt.

Shortly after arrival in the Indian Ocean, Fancourt was sent home with dispatches and missed the opportunity to acquire prize money from the successful campaign there.

[1] He was eventually promoted to Post-Captain on 2 December 1789 and during the Spanish Armament in 1790, commissioned HMS Ambuscade and took up station in the Mediterranean.

[2] When Great Britain became embroiled in the French Revolutionary Wars, Fancourt was in command of the 44-gun HMS Chichester, involved mainly in the escort of convoys to and from the West Indies and Mediterranean.

While carrying out such duties off St Domingo in August 1794, Chichester and the 64-gun HMS Intrepid captured the French corvette, Sirenne.

[3] In mid 1800 she was off Elsinore, enforcing Britain's perceived right to search neutral vessels[2] and later that year took part in the important survey of the strait between Denmark and Sweden.

Although present at the Battle of Copenhagen (1801), serving in Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson's squadron, Fancourt's ship was prevented from taking an active role when it went aground during the early manoeuvres.