The Royal Navy commissioned
Bienfaisant as the
third rate '
HMS Bienfaisant'''''. In late 1777
Bienfaissant, Captain McBride, captured
American Tartar privateer, of 24 guns and 200 men.
Bienfaissant took
American Tartar to St. John's, Newfoundland. She took part in the
Battle of Cape St Vincent in 1780 and the
capture of the Comte de Artois off Ireland in August. On 19 July 1780,
Bienfaisant encountered the French 32-gun frigate
Nymphe, returning to Brest from America under
Du Rumain.
Nymphe managed to escape.
Bienfaisant participated, under the command of Captain Braithwaite, in the 1781
Battle of Dogger Bank with reduced armament on her lower deck as the last ship in the line.
Bienfaisant was at
Plymouth on 20 January 1795 and so shared in the proceeds of the detention of the Dutch naval vessels,
East Indiamen, and other merchant vessels that were in port on the outbreak of war between Britain and the Netherlands. ==Fate==