HMS Brilliant was a 28-gun Enterprise-class

Enterprise class frigate

The Enterprise-class frigates were the final class of 28-gun sailing frigates of the sixth-rate to be produced for the Royal Navy. These twenty-seven vessels were designed in 1770 by John Williams. A first batch of five ships were ordered as part of the programme sparked by the Falklands Islands...

 sixth-rate

Sixth-rate

Sixth rate was the designation used by the Royal Navy for small warships mounting between 20 and 24 nine-pounder guns on a single deck, sometimes with guns on the upper works and sometimes without.-Rating:...

 frigate of the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

. The Brilliant was first commissioned

Ship commissioning

Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service, and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to the placing of a warship in active duty with its country's military...

 in July 1779 under the command of Captain John Ford.

Between July 1796 and October 1798 she was commanded by Captain Henry Blackwood

Henry Blackwood

Vice-Admiral Sir Henry Blackwood, 1st Baronet, GCH, KCB , whose memorial is in the St. John's Church, Killyleagh, was a British sailor....

, and during this period, on 20 July 1798 she famously beat off two large French frigates (one mounting 40 and the other 42 guns).

On 8 September 1800 she sent the prize Dragon into Plymouth. She was a packet of 14 guns, bound for L'Orient from Guadeloupe and carrying a cargo of cocoa, coffee, indigo and cotton.