After four months Ballard moved with Vashon and Gardner to Europa based at Jamaica and it was here that he first met Lieutenant George Vancouver.
Ballard remained on the ship for a year before following Rainier to Monarch in June 1790 and eight months later on 28 February 1791 he joined Vancouver's expedition.
On 25 December 1798, while commanding the sloop Hobart, on the East India station, Ballard was promoted to captain and transferred to the 28-gun frigate Carysfort with which he remained until mid-1800.
For nearly two years, Ballard's next command was the 50-gun Berschermer before he, in July 1806, recommissioned Blonde, a 38-gun frigate captured from the French in 1782 and initially named Hebe.
Ballard departed in a convoy to the West Indies on 7 January 1807, and during that year captured seven French privateers including La Dame Villaret and Hortenseiun in August, Hirondelle and Duquesne (a former British warship), in September and Alert in October.
^ During the voyage Ballard kept a log now held in The National Archives, London under reference ADM 55/29 Discovery, 1 March 1791 – 2 July 1795.