She made two trips to China for the EIC and on the second of these, after the outbreak of war with France in 1793, assisted at the British capture of Pondicherry.

Then, the Admiralty, desirous of quickly building up the Royal Navy, purchased a number of commercial vessels, including nine East Indiamen, to meet the need for small two-decker fourth rates to serve as convoy escorts.

She made a trip to the West Indies where she was the lead ship of a small squadron that captured some Dutch colonies.

[6] Royal Charlotte left The Downs on 27 December 1792, bound for St Helena, Madras and China.

[6] There Triton, Warley, and Royal Charlotte participated in the capture of Pondicherry by maintaining a blockade of the port, together with HMS Minerva.

[6] At Whampoa that December were several other East Indiamen, among which were several that on their return to Britain the Admiralty would purchase: Warley, Ceres, Earl of Abergavenny, and Hindostan.

[11] The British Government had chartered Hindostan to take Lord Macartney to China in an unsuccessful attempt to open diplomatic and commercial relations with the Chinese empire.

Thomas Pitcher, who had built the now Malabar, refitted her for naval service, completing the work on 17 July.

The 64-gun third rate HMS Scipio, under the command of Captain Francis Laforey, joined the squadron at Demerara.

The crew threw her guns overboard and, once the winds had dropped, jury-rigged her, but her timbers started to give way and let in water.

[17] The subsequent court martial dismissed the service of a Lieutenant Crocombe for having spent much of the time of the crisis in the wardroom drunk.