On 5 October 1796,
Captain John Willet Payne was given command. After a refit at
Portsmouth, she sailed for
Spithead on 11 October, where her refit continued until she sailed on English Channel duty on 28 October, returning to Spithead on 1 January 1797. In that year Payne resigned his commission through ill-health and Captain Sampson Edwards assumed command. On 8 March 1797,
Impetueux captured
Vautour, a privateer cutter from an unknown harbour, commissioned in early 1797. Captain
Sir Edward Pellew assumed command on 1 March 1799. In March 1799, while under Pellew's command, some of the crew of
Impetueux fomented a mutiny. The
Marine Guard remained loyal, which enabled Pellew to suppress the mutiny. Three were hanged and six were
flogged around the fleet before being transferred to other ships. On 4 June 1800, a squadron under Captain Edward Pellew in
Impetueux, On 29 July a boat each from
Impetueux, , and
Viper, under the command of
Lieutenant Jeremiah Coghlan of
Viper brought out the
brig Cerbère from
Port-Louis, Morbihan. In 1847 the Admiralty awarded the
Naval General Service Medal with clasp, "29 July Boat Service 1800" to the four surviving claimants from the action. On 25 August a squadron and convoy under the command of Rear-Admiral Sir
John Borlase Warren participated in another attack on a fort at the bay of Playa de Dominos (Doniños), outside the port of
Ferrol.
Impétueux, the 28-gun frigate ,
Cynthia and the 14-gun
hired armed cutter St Vincent silenced the battery, which was armed with eight 24-pounders. Then seamen from the ships landed to assist a large force of army troops to haul the guns up to the heights above Ferrol. In 1847 the Admiralty issued the Naval General Service Medal with clasp "29 Aug. Boat Service 1800" to all survivors of this action that came forward to claim it. ==Fate==