Eight ships of the Royal Navy have borne the name HMS Espiegle
HMS Juno was a Royal Navy 32-gun Amazon-class fifth rate. This frigate served during the American War of Independence, and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.
HMS Epervier was a French 16-gun Alcyon-class brig. HMS Egyptienne captured her in the Atlantic Ocean on 27 July 1803; she was taken into Royal Navy service under her existing name. Before being broken up in 1811 she captured several prizes and was present at the Battle of San Domingo. Her crew received a clasp to the Naval General Service Medal for their participation in that battle and another for an action in December 1808. She was laid up in late 1810 and was sold in 1811.
HMS Scourge was a 4-gun gun-vessel, formerly a Dutch hoy, purchased in February 1794. She was fitted out at Deptford between April and 12 May, and commissioned under Lieutenant John Store. His replacement, in August 1795, was Lieutenant John Wolfe, who was succeeded in the next month by Lieutenant Robert Watherston. A little over a year later, in October 1796, Lieutenant Francis M'Ghie took command. In March of the next year Lieutenant Charles Randle replaced him.
HMS Hornet was a 16-gun ship-rigged sloop of the Cormorant class in the Royal Navy, ordered 18 February 1793, built by Marmaduke Stalkart and launched 3 February 1794 at Rotherhithe. Hornet saw most of her active duty during the French Revolutionary Wars. During the Napoleonic Wars she served for about six years as a hospital ship before being laid up in 1811 and sold in 1817.
HMS Abergavenny was originally Earl of Abergavenny, an East Indiaman sailing for the British East India Company (EIC). As an East Indiaman she made two trips to China between 1790 and 1794. The Royal Navy bought her in 1795, converted her to a 56-gun fourth-rate ship of the line, and renamed her. One year later the East India Company built a new and much larger ship which was also named the Earl of Abergavenny and which sank off Weymouth Bay in 1805. HMS Abergavenny was sold for breaking in 1807.
Gracieuse was a 32-gun Charmante-class frigate of the French Navy. Renamed to Unité in 1793, she took part in the French Revolutionary Wars. The Royal Navy captured her in 1796 off Île d'Yeu and brought her into British service as HMS Unite. She was sold in 1802
HMS Avenger was a 16-gun ship-sloop of the British Royal Navy. Previously she was the French privateer Marseillaise and then naval corvette Vengeur, which the British Army captured during the battle for Martinique in 1794. The Admiralty sold her in 1802.
HMS Cerf was the Spanish Navy's 18-gun brig Cuervo, built at Havana in 1794-95. A British privateer captured her and her captors renamed her Stag before in December 1801 selling her to the Captain-General of Guadeloupe. The French Navy took her into service as the 14-gun brig Cerf. The Royal Navy acquired Cerf at the surrender of Santo Domingo on 30 November 1803. The Royal Navy sold her in 1806.
Robert was a 16-gun French privateer corvette launched in 1793 at Nantes. The British captured her in 1793 and named her HMS Espion. The French recaptured her in 1794 and took her into service as Espion. The British recaptured her in 1795, but there being another Espion in service by then, the British renamed their capture HMS Spy. She served under that name until the Navy sold her in 1801. Spy then became a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people, a merchantman to South America, and privateer again. The French captured her in mid-1805 and sent her into Guadeloupe.
HMS Barbuda was commissioned into the Royal Navy in 1780 after having briefly served as an American privateer. Barbuda was one of the two sloops that captured Demerara and Essequibo in 1781, but the French Navy captured her there in 1782 and took her into service as Barboude. The French Navy sold her to private owners in 1786, and she served briefly as a privateer in early 1793 before the French Navy purchased her again and named her Légère. She served them until mid-1796 when the Royal Navy captured her and took her into service as HMS Legere. She was wrecked off the coast of Colombia, without loss of life, in February 1801.
HMS Vesuve was the French brick-cannonièreVésuve, name vessel of her class of seven bricks-cannonière. She was launched at Saint-Malo in 1793. The British Royal Navy captured her in 1795 and took her into service as HMS Vesuve. The Navy sold her in 1802.
Quatre frères was either an American or Bermudian-built vessel. She was commissioned in 1796 at Bordeaux as a French privateer. The Royal Navy captured her in April 1797 and took her into service as HMS Transfer. The Royal Navy sold her at Malta in 1802 to Ottoman Tripolitania. The U.S. Navy captured her in 1804 and took her into service as USS Scourge. The U.S. Navy sold her in 1812.
HMS Ferret was a brig-sloop of the Royal Navy, launched in 1784 but not completed until 1787. In 1801 the Navy sold her. She then became a whaler, making six whaling voyages to the Pacific between 1802 and 1815. She was broken up in 1817.
HMS Princess was the Dutch East Indiaman Williamstadt en Boetzlaar that the British Royal Navy captured on 18 August 1795 at the Capitulation of Saldanha Bay. The Royal Navy initially rated her a 28-gun sixth rate. She quickly became a receiving ship, a guard ship, and a floating battery. The Navy sold her in 1816.
The Royal Navy purchased HMS Barracouta on the stocks in 1782. After she had served for almost ten years patrolling against smugglers, the Navy sold her in 1792. She became the privateer Thought, which had a successful cruize, capturing several prizes including a French privateer, but then was herself captured in September 1793. She served the French Navy under the names Pensée, Montagne, Pensée, and Vedette, until the British recaptured her in 1800 and renamed her HMS Vidette. The Royal Navy sold her in 1802.
HMS Ferret was a Dutch hoy of the same name that the Admiralty purchased in 1794 for use as a gun-boat. It sold her in May 1802.
Lutin was a Hasard-class brig-aviso launched at Bayonne in 1788 for the French Navy. Shortly after the outbreak of war with England, the British Royal Navy captured her off Newfoundland. The British took her into service as HMS Lutin. After some two years on the Newfoundland station Lutin sailed to Plymouth where the Navy sold her.
HMS Wasp was a 4-gun gun-vessel, formerly a Dutch hoy, purchased on 7 March 1794. She was fitted out at Woolwich between March and June 1794, and commissioned under Lieutenant George Hollwell. She was paid off in April 1795. Lieutenant John Wheatley recommissioned her in June. He paid her off in 1796. In September Lieutenant William Heppel recommissioned her. In February 1801 Lieutenant William Holmes replaced Heppel.
HMS Tickler was launched in 1794 as a Conquest-class gunbrig. She was sold in 1802.
Great Britain