On 13 May 1774, "Lively" arrived in Boston. She brought with her General Thomas Gage, commissioned as governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay. "Lively" was part of the British fleet that blockaded the port of Boston to enforce the Boston Port Act, a punishment of that city for the Boston Tea Party. Following the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War in April 1775, she remained part of the British presence during the Siege of Boston, and was the first ship to fire at the fortifications the American colonial militia had erected, helping to spark the Battle of Bunker Hill.