Three ships of the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...
have been named HMS ''Espion'', meaning "spy". A fourth vessel was going to bear the name but was given another name instead:
*
HMS ''Espion'' was a 16-gun French ''Levrette''-class
cutter
Cutter may refer to:
Tools
* Bolt cutter
* Box cutter
* Cigar cutter
* Cookie cutter
* Cutter (hydraulic rescue tool)
* Glass cutter
* Meat cutter
* Milling cutter
* Paper cutter
* Pizza cutter
* Side cutter
People
* Cutter (surname)
* Cutt ...
launched in 1781, captured in 1782 and sold in 1784.
*
HMS ''Espion'' was the 16-gun French
privateer
A privateer is a private person or vessel which engages in commerce raiding under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign o ...
corvette ''Robert'' launched in 1793 at
Nantes
Nantes (, ; ; or ; ) is a city in the Loire-Atlantique department of France on the Loire, from the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast. The city is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, sixth largest in France, with a pop ...
. 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
Slave ships were large cargo ships specially built or converted from the 17th to the 19th century for transporting Slavery, slaves. Such ships were also known as "Guineamen" because the trade involved human trafficking to and from the Guinea ( ...
, a merchantman to South America, and privateer again. The French captured her in mid-1805 and sent her into Guadeloupe.
*
HMS ''Espion'' was the French
frigate
A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied.
The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and maneuvera ...
''Atalante'', which the British captured in 1794 and later converted to a store or troopship. She was wrecked, with no loss of life, in 1799.
* ''Espion'' was the name initially chosen for .
Citations
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Espion, Hms
Royal Navy ship names