Delaware was built in 1794 as the merchant ship Hamburgh Packet in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and purchased by the Navy 5 May 1798. Captain Stephen Decatur, Sr., was appointed to command and outfit her for sea. Delaware's return to the West Indies from July 1799 to July 1800 found her joining the Revenue Cutter Eagle in taking a privateer sloop. She took a brig on 29 October, after a 7-hour chase, rescuing 30 Americans held prisoner in the privateer. She made a final cruise off Cuba in the late fall and winter of 1800-1801, then returned to Baltimore, where she was sold early in June 1801.