"Brilliant" was stationed at Gibraltar during the Great Siege. In June 1782 the garrison there launched 12 gunboats. Each was armed with an 18-pounder gun, and received a crew of 21 men drawn from Royal Navy vessels stationed at Gibraltar. "Brilliant" provided crews for six: "Defiance", "Dreadnought", "Resolution", "Revenge", "Spitfire", and "Thunder".