On September 10, 1798, Gray set sail from Salem in command of the bark , on another trading voyage bound for the Northwest Coast, where he was meant to spend a season or two fur-trading, and thence for Canton and home again, as before. This voyage was cut short while yet outbound, though, by the capture of Gray's ship in the South Atlantic by a French privateer. "Alert" was taken by "La Republicaine" on November 17, about east of Rio de Janeiro, then sailed by a prize crew (though under Gray's command) to the Spanish port of Montevideo, on the Río de la Plata, arriving on December 14. There, "Alert" and its cargo were sold as prizes of the French ship. "Alert" left port on January 11, with a Spanish crew under the Spanish flag, bound for the Pacific. Gray returned to the United States and went on with his sailing career.