French career On 2 May 1780, she departed Brest with the 7-ship and 3-frigate
Expédition Particulière under Admiral
Ternay, escorting 36 transports carrying troops to support the
Continental Army in the
War of American Independence. The squadron comprised the 80-gun
Duc de Bourgogne, under
Ternay d'Arsac (admiral) and
Médine (
flag captain); the
74-gun Neptune, under
Sochet Des Touches, and
Conquérant, under
La Grandière; and the 64-gun
Provence under
Lombard,
Ardent under
Bernard de Marigny,
Jason under
La Clocheterie and
Éveillé under
Le Gardeur de Tilly, and the frigates
Surveillante under
Villeneuve Cillart,
Amazone under
La Pérouse, and
Bellone.
Amazone, which constituted the vanguard of the fleet, arrived at Boston on 11 June 1780. on 19 April 1782, in the Mona Passage, near the west end of Porto Rico
British career On 8 January 1795, while under the command of Captain
Alexander John Ball she captured the French Republican warship
Esperance on the North America Station. The French ambassador to the United States registered a complaint with the President of the United States that
Argonaut, by entering
Lynnhaven bay, either before she captured
Esperance or shortly thereafter, had violated a treaty between France and the United States. The French also accused the British of having brought
Esperance into Lynnhaven for refitting for a cruise. The President passed the complaint to the Secretary of State, who forwarded the complaint to the Governor of Virginia. The Governor inquired into the matter of the British Consul at
Virginia. The authorities in Virginia took a number of depositions but ultimately nothing further came from the matter. Because she was captured in good order and sailed well, Rear Admiral
George Murray, the British commander in chief of the North American station, put a British crew aboard and sent
Esperance out on patrol with
Lynx on 31 January. On 3 August 1795,
Argonaut captured the ship
Anna. ==Fate==