HMS Lynx was a 16-gun ship-rigged sloop of the Cormorant class in the Royal Navy, launched in 1794 at Gravesend. In 1795 she was the cause of an international incident when she fired on USRC Eagle. She was at the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801, and during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars took numerous prizes, mostly merchant vessels but also including some privateers. She was also at the second Battle of Copenhagen in 1807. She was sold in April 1813. She then became the whaler Recovery. She made 12 whaling voyages in the southern whale fishery, the last one ending in 1843, at which time her owner had her broken up.
HMS Arab was a 22-gun post ship of the Royal Navy. She was formerly the 18-gun French privateer Brave, which the British captured in 1798. She served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars until she was sold in 1810.
HMS Hyaena was a 24-gun Porcupine-class post-ship of the Royal Navy launched in 1778. The French captured her in 1793, took her into service as Hyène, and then sold her. She became a privateer that the British captured in 1797. The Royal Navy took her back into service as Hyaena and she continued to serve until the Navy sold her in 1802. The shipowner Daniel Bennett purchased her and renamed her Recovery. She made seven voyages as a whaler in the British southern whale fishery and was broken up 1813.
Résistance was a 48-gun Vengeance-class frigate of the French Navy. HMS St Fiorenzo captured her in 1797 and the Royal Navy took her into service as HMS Fisgard. She was sold in 1814.
HMS Flirt was launched in 1782 but was completed too late to see any significant service in the American War of Independence. She then spent most of the years of peace in British waters. She sailed to Jamaica in 1791, but was laid up in Deptford in November 1792, and did not return to service before being sold in 1795. Daniel Bennett purchased her, had her almost rebuilt, and then employed her as a whaler in the Southern Whale Fishery. A French privateer captured her in 1803 as Flirt was returning to Britain from a whaling voyage.
Ganges was a ship launched in 1798 at Philadelphia, probably for French owners. During the Peace of Amiens her registration and homeport became Dunkirk. Her French owners sent her to engage in whaling at Delagoa Bay, where the British letter of marque whaler Scorpion captured her in 1803. She then made one whaling voyage to Isle of Desolation before a French squadron captured her in 1806 during a second whaling voyage. Accounts differ as to whether her captors sank her, or released her and she continued to operate as a merchant vessel until 1814.
Lively was launched at Saint-Malo in 1765 as Duchesse d'Aiguillon. She spent her first years cod-fishing at Newfoundland. She was renamed Abeille after the French Revolution and became a transport in the service of the government. HMS Hebe captured her in 1795. A. Dixon purchased her, and Daniel Bennett purchased her from Dixon in 1798. He then employed her as whaler on some six complete voyages. She was lost c.1808 on her seventh voyage.
Canada was launched at King's Yard in 1779 for the Royal Navy, which sold her circa 1782 at the end of the war. Her name while in Royal Navy service is unknown as of November 2022. John St Barbe purchased her and named her Adriatic, but renamed her Canada circa 1786. She made three seal hunting and whaling voyages between 1791 and 1799 under that name. On the first of these a French privateer captured her, but a British merchant ship recaptured her. She was lost at South Georgia in 1800 on her fourth voyage to the southern whale fishery.
Diamond was launched in 1798 at Quebec. French privateers captured her three times, the third time retaining her. In between she sailed as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. Her third capture occurred while she was on a whaling voyage. Her last voyage took her from Île de France to Bordeaux where she was decommissioned in January 1809.
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.
Frederick was an American-built ship that the British captured from the French c.1805. Lumley & Co. purchased her in prize and employed her as a slave-ship for two voyages. After the abolition of the British slave trade in 1807 she briefly became a merchantman, and then in 1810 a whaler. She made several voyages to the Southern Whale Fishery. On one of these voyages, in 1812, a French privateer captured Frederick but the British Royal Navy captured the privateer, and recaptured Frederick. She is last listed in 1822.
Adventure was a French privateer captured in 1803. She became a whaler that made two voyages to the Southern Whale Fishery. She was wrecked in April 1808 as she set out on her third.
Kingston was launched at Bristol in 1780 as a West Indiaman. From 1798 she made ten voyages as a whaler. Somewhat unusually, on her first voyage she participated in the capture of a Spanish merchant ship. She then briefly sailed between England and Quebec, and was last listed in 1819.
Norfolk was built in France in 1784 under a different name. The British captured her c. 1800 and she made some voyages as a West Indiaman. She also made a cruise as a privateer. Between 1803 and 1808 she served the Royal Navy as an armed defense and hired armed ship on the Leith Station. She spent her time escorting convoys in the North Sea and captured one French privateer. After her naval service, between 1808 and 1814 Norfolk was a London-based transport. From 1814 to 1820 she made four voyages as a whaler in the British southern whale fishery. She was last listed in 1823.
HMS Hazard was launched in 1749 For the Royal Navy as brig-rigged sloop. She had a 30-plus year career with the navy, during which she captured several small French privateers. At the end of the American War of Independence, the navy sold her and she became the merchantman Joseph. After almost a decade as a merchantman trading with Spain, a new owner made a whaler of her. She made seven whaling voyages and was no longer listed after 1804, two years after her return from her last whaling voyage.
Cicero was launched at Sunderland in 1796 and initially sailed as a West Indiaman. She was briefly captured in 1799 in a single-ship action with a French privateer. Later, she went whale hunting both in the northern whale fishery (1803-1808), and the southern whale fishery (1816-1823). She capsized at Limerick in September 1832 and was condemned there.
William Heathcote was launched in Liverpool in 1800. She made one voyage as a slave ship in the triangular trade in enslaved people. Next, a French privateer captured her in a single-ship action, and the British Royal Navy recaptured her. She became a West Indiaman before she again made an enslaving voyage, one of the last such legal voyages. After British participation in the trans-Atlantic slave trade ended, she became a West Indiaman again; she then 6sailed to Brazil and as a transport. She was wrecked in July 1816.
The French brig Gironde was launched at Rochefort in 1793 as a Dédaigneuse-class gun-brig of the French Navy. In 1797 she was struck from the lists and sold. She became a privateer operating out of Bordeaux. The British Royal Navy captured her in 1800 but never commissioned her; it sold her in 1801.
Several vessels have been named Venus for the planet Venus or the Roman goddess Venus:
Several vessels have been named Lune.
France
Great Britain