In 1784 after the end of the war Blankett was recalled to service in command of HMS Thetis in the Mediterranean, receiving an honour from King Ferdinand of Sicily. In 1790 he was appointed to HMS Leopard, escorting a convoy to China and the commanded HMS America on an operation to the Cape of Good Hope during the French Revolutionary Wars. In 1795 he participated in the invasion and capture of the Dutch Cape Colony. In 1798 he was given an independent command in Leopard, tasked with preventing the use of the Red Sea by the French, who had invaded Egypt earlier in the year under General Napoleon Bonaparte. With growing bitterness he retained this uneventful command for three years, the presence of his force dissuading the French from pursuing operations in the region. In 1801, his health broken by the heat and conditions in the Red Sea, he died on Leopard at Mocha on the Arabian Peninsula. In life, Blankett was noted for both his linguistic prowess and his bad temper.