Tarleton was under the command of Capitaine de fregate Comte Laurent-Jean-François Truguet. She carried the French ambassador Choiseul-Gouffier, and his suite, to his post at Constantinople. She then sailed around the Bosphorus, Marmara, and the whole of the Middle East. 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. In 1790 or so, Tarleton was under the command of Sous-lieutenant de vaisseaux Féraud. He sailed her from Toulon to Milo, Sicily, via Tunis and Malta. Then she escorted French merchant vessels sailing from Smyrna to Cerigo. Tarleton then reappears at the siege of Toulon, under the command of "Maselet". There Royalist forces turned over to the Anglo-Spanish force the French naval vessels in the port. Royalist Lieutenant de vaisseau Louis-Joseph-Felix-Nöel Damblard de Lansmatre then commanded her in October as part of a small squadron that patrolled the Îles d'Hyères to suppress piracy. 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. British service 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. Hood sighted them on 10 June and drove them into Gourjean Bay. The Weather prevented a conventional attack and Lieutenant Charles Brisbane of , proposed a fire ship attack. Hood accepted the plan and the British converted Tarleton into a fireship under Brisbane's command. However, on the eve of the attack, the French sortied, forcing Hood to abandon the plan and to retire. Hood nevertheless promoted Brisbane to commander on 1 July and to command of Tarleton. 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. Brisbane and Tarleton spent some time blockading Gourjean Bay, and then protecting the trade between Bastia and Leghorn. On the morning of 9 March 1795, Admiral Hotham put to sea heading for Corsica in search of the French fleet. As yet unaware of the fate of , he sent Tarleton ahead to San