"Hercules" was built at Amsterdam in 1781, to prey on British shipping during the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War. On 30 November she sailed from the Texel with another large privateer, "Mars". The vessels were commanded by a father and son team named Hogenboome; the father had been active as a privateer operating out of Flushing during the Seven Years' War under the alias John Hardapple. The two vessels were estimated to have cost upwards of £20,000. Their career as privateers was short-lived. They managed to capture only a single British fishing smack before the 40-gun frigate , under the command of Captain John MacBride, sighted them off Flamborough Head at 10 o'clock in the morning on 3 December.