Captain Hughes left the vessel in December 1758 and was replaced three months later by Captain Herbert Sawyer. "Active" then joined Admiral Edward Boscawen's Mediterranean fleet and spent several uneventful months cruising off the French port of Toulon. In mid-1759 Boscawen's fleet put into Gibraltar for repairs, but returned to sea on 17 August when word reached the port that the French were nearby. As part of the fleet, "Active" played a supporting role in the British victory in the Battle of Lagos on the following day. She returned to England in December 1759, escorting a transport carrying cannons salvaged from wrecked French vessels after the Battle of Quiberon Bay. The voyage was a stormy one, with "Active" losing her mizzen mast in bad weather off the port of Plymouth.