On her first enslaving voyage, Shimmins sailed Tarleton from Liverpool on 19 June 1796.

[4] On 28 November Tarleton drove off a French privateer of 12 guns with a single broadside, and later that day succeeded in repelling another after an engagement of three hours.

[6] Shimmins and his men, including some captives that helped man the guns, sustained no casualties.

Tarleton left Martinique on 9 January 1797 and arrived back at Liverpool on 13 April.

[11] In 1798, 160 British vessels left on enslaving voyages; 149 sailed from Liverpool.