See also
This article includes a list of ships with the same or similar names. If an internal link for a specific ship led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended ship article, if one exists.
Several vessels have been named Spy:
The British Royal Navy purchased HMS Shark on the stocks in 1775. She was launched in 1776, and in 1778 converted to a fireship and renamed HMS Salamander. The Navy sold her in 1783. She then became the mercantile Salamander. In the 1780s she was in the northern whale fishery. In 1791 she transported convicts to Australia. She then became a whaling ship in the southern whale fishery for a number of years, before becoming a general transport and then a slave ship. In 1804 the French captured her, but the Royal Navy recaptured her. Although she is last listed in 1811, she does not appear in Lloyd's List (LL) ship arrival and departure (SAD) data after 1804.
Three ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Espion, meaning "spy". A fourth vessel was going to bear the name but was given another name instead:
Several vessels have been named Thames, for the River Thames:
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.
Several vessels have been named Harriet, or Harriot:
Many ships have been named Betsey or Betsy:
Numerous vessels have borne the name Active :
Several ships have been named Robert.
Several vessels have been named Recovery:
HMS Otter was the French merchantman Glanure, which the Royal Navy (RN) captured early in 1778. The Royal Navy took her into service as the sloop HMS Otter and she served in the American theatre. The Navy sold her in 1783. She became a merchantman and then a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. She made two complete voyages bringing captives to Jamaica. The French captured her in December 1795 as she was on her way to deliver her third cargo of captives.
Several vessels have been named Tartar:
Several ships have been named Mentor:
Mentor was the former HMS Wasp. The British Royal Navy sold Wasp in 1781 and she became the mercantile Polly, which traded with Africa. In 1784 Polly became the slave ship Mentor. Mentor made eight full voyages in the triangular trade in enslaved people. She carried captives from The Gambia to the West Indies. French privateers captured her in late 1795 as she was on her way from West Africa to the West Indies on her ninth voyage.
Several vessels have been named Ellis:
Several vessels have been named Rover:
HMS Spy was a Bonetta-class sloop launched at Rotherhithe in 1756 for the Royal Navy. The Navy sold her in 1773. From 1776, or perhaps earlier she was a transport. Then from 1780 to 1783, as Mars, she was first a privateer and then a slave ship, engaged in the triangular trade in enslaved persons. Between 1783 and 1787 her name was Tartar, and she traded with the Mediterranean. From 1787, as Southampton, she was a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. She made at least four complete whaling voyages and was last listed in 1792.
A number of vessels have been named Ranger:
Several vessels have been named Chaser
King Grey, first appeared in online British records in 1786. She made five enslaving voyages between 1786 and 1793. On her last enslaving voyage the French captured her but the Royal Navy quickly recaptured her. She was sold at Kingston, Jamaica. She became a privateer but in December 1795 fire from French Republican shore artillery sank her at Tiburon where she was supporting French Royalist forces as an armed ship.