Supposedly the Tarleton of this article had been a vessel the Royal Navy had captured and lost to the French in 1782.

There was a mercantile Tarlton [sic], of New York, with Young, owner, that escaped Yorktown shortly before its fall in 1781.

The ambiguous report of "Jonas Rider, a Black Man", raises the possibility that the French captured this vessel, only to lose it to the British.

The Archives of the State of Maryland record on 3 January 1783 that two armed vessels, Pole Cat and Tarleton, had arrived from Baltimore and sailed into Chesapeake Bay to drive out the British forces there.

She made a voyage to Saint Lucia and return but on 19 October 1782 the French captured her and took her into Cap François.

[18] On 29 April 1783 enseigne de vaisseau Aristide-Aubert du Petit-Thouars took command of Tarleton, which he described as a brig of fourteen 4-pounder guns.

Truguet mapped the coasts of the Ottoman Empire and took Choiseul-Gouffier on an exploration of what was believed to be the area where Troy had stood.

While in command of Tarleton, Truguet wrote a monograph on tactics and another on naval maneuvers; these were translated into Turkish and printed at Constantinople.

When the Anglo-Spanish force had to leave in December, they took with them the best vessels, including Tarleton (or Tarleston), and tried to burn the remainder.

[21][a] After the Siege of Bastia had ended in May 1794, Admiral Lord Hood, sought out a French squadron consisting of seven ships of the line and some frigates.

However, on the eve of the attack, the French sortied, forcing Hood to abandon the plan and to retire.

He served in her during the remainder of that year and part of the next in the squadron acting in the Gulf of Genoa, under the immediate orders of Nelson.

[25] Brisbane and Tarleton spent some time blockading Gourjean Bay, and then protecting the trade between Bastia and Leghorn.

[24] On the morning of 9 March 1795, Admiral Hotham put to sea heading for Corsica in search of the French fleet.

The following morning on 10 March the British came in sight of the French fleet, now beating northwards back to Toulon against a south-west wind.

At the subsequent battle of Genoa (14 March 1795), Tarleton was in the seaboard or weather division under Vice-Admiral Samuel Goodall.

[26] Illustrious attempted to anchor in Valence Bay (between Spezia and Leghorn) to ride out the bad weather that had descended upon her.

In December Admiral Jervis observed that she was "in extreme danger" of sinking even while undertaking a short voyage between two Mediterranean ports.