Unfortunately, Four Friends was lost in a gale off Beachy Head. Stile sailed Cameleon to the Mediterranean on 4 March 1799. Cameleon arrived at Gibraltar on 5 May, having passed through a French squadron some eight or nine leagues west of Cape Spartel. The next day Cameleon departed for Malta to inform Captain Alexander Ball, who was in charge of the naval blockade at the siege of Malta, that the French fleet was in the Mediterranean. She was then to go on to Alexandria to also inform Sir Sidney Smith. Smith, in a later letter to Earl Spencer, alludes to mutinous conduct aboard Cameleon, and hopes that Stiles has rendered "His dissatisfied ship's company ashamed of their late conduct." Shortly thereafter, on 14 June, Stiles was promoted to post captain on . (Captain Ralph Miller, Theseuss previous captain, had died in an explosion on board on 14 May.) Lord Nelson had intended to appoint Commander Edward Canes, first lieutenant of , to command Cameleon. However, when Lieutenant Frederick Lewis Maitland returned from captivity shortly after the Spanish captured his command, the hired armed cutter Penelope in the action of 7 July 1799, Earl St Vincent promoted Maitland to commander, the promotion being backdated to 14 June, and gave him command of Cameleon. Maitland commanded her off the coast of Egypt, under Sir Sidney Smith, until the signing of the convention of al-'Arish on 24 January 1800. Maitland was sent home overland with dispatches, but quickly returned to his command until Lord Keith moved him to the command of the storeship . By April 1800 Cameleon was under the command of Lieutenant Samuel Jackson (acting). Between April and mid-May, Cameleon was part of a three-vessel naval squadron that, at the behest of Admiral Lord Keith, supported the Austrian force besieging the fortress of Savona. The naval force was under the command of Captain Hugh Downman in the frigate , and also included the Neapolitan brig Strombolo, under Captain Settimo. The little squadron's boats rowed guard off the harbour's mouth for 41 nights; the famished garrison surrendered to the allies on 15 May. Although Cameleon was committed to the blockade, she managed to share in a number of captures by other vessels. On 14 April and captured St. Rosalia. Cameleon was among the five vessels with which Phaeton had to share her share of the proceeds due to a prior agreement. Next,